


Danganronpa: Trepidation’s Tyranny

by Trepidations Tyranny (AnimulusAnima)



Category: Danganronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Fan Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Fanganronpa, Gen, Major character death - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 11:23:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16533662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimulusAnima/pseuds/Trepidations%20Tyranny
Summary: Mirai Higurashi, Ultimate Oneirologist, is the type of person who believes in fate. One day, she finds that fate had led her into awaking in a mysterious school with fifteen other Ultimate students. Soon enough they find that the killing game will begin.





	1. Prologue Part One

There was light.

Mirai’s eyes popped open to look up at the lamp, hanging above her. The shock of waking up somewhere strange and new rendered her unable to move, her body completely stationary as she observed her surroundings. Her legs ached and refused to work with her, and both of her arms felt incredibly numb, and her entire body felt sore. She continued staring up at the lamp until her eyes began to tear up, beginning to hurt from simply staring a light for so long. The girl supposed that it was the cue for her eyes to stop, so she lowered her head, and put her thoughts towards something else.

She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind from the strangeness of being in a place so new and unknown to her mind. Mirai looked into the darkness, as if she was staring into an abyss, a void, forever empty and endless. She tried to focus as much as she could, commencing a process so known to her that it took no mental strength to begin. 

From inside of her, she dug to find her last dream. All she was able to see was nothingness, a world of darkness and hopelessness, imprisoned in an oblivion she couldn’t reach. Confusion filled her mind immediately. Her dream had not happened. The girl had a dream every night, so this experience was new to her, an oddity she couldn’t figure out. How could it have been that she wasn’t able to find her past dream for the first time since she was a small girl?

In that moment, her hand began trailing up towards the light, reaching up towards the sky to try to grasp something she couldn’t reach. Her brain finally kicked in and reminded her that there was no point, no actual use to panicking. She knew that she didn’t have a reason to worry, a reason to feel anxious or trepidacious. Fear didn’t affect her in the slightest. She knew all this for one reason. 

Her name was Mirai, and it meant future. It was her destiny to know all, and to see all. It was her identity to accomplish the impossible. She knew all this perfectly well. She knew that a path was laid in front of her, and all she had to do was follow it. It was fate, a route filled with entropy and camaraderie, chaos and bloodshed, hope and despair. She was meant to do nothing more and nothing less. Mirai smiled, her mind completely filled with tranquil thoughts, a benevolent scene in her mind calming her down and making certain she didn’t have to worry.

She stood up from the seat, and began looking around the classroom she had awoken in. It was seemingly just a normal classroom, albeit one she had never seen before. The room had an unremarkable chalkboard, rows of desks that Mirai slept near, and nothing much else, besides the usual wood ceiling, floor, and walls. With Mirai was just her cloak, laying on a pile of belongings lying next to her. It seemed that she must’ve used it as a blanket at some point. She didn’t hold anything else on her, besides the cloak and a few books about dreams she recognized from the pile. 

Around her, it seemed there was nothing more to see. Mirai headed out of the room, taking slow steps down the hallway, a slight chill in the air, slightly making her nervous. However, the worry was quickly swept away and was immediately replaced with her usual calm grin. When there was two paths to walk down, she simply followed what side that attracted her more when she closed her eyes and focused. She eventually began hearing the noise of footsteps and panicked talking that grew louder and louder each time she stepped. A few thoughts of what could be happening popped up in her mind, but they flew away before she really thought about either. It didn’t matter. 

Her feet took her to the dining hall, where several people her age stood, conversing with confused expressions embellished on their faces. There was some trash in the trash can, and some open boxes on the tables. She was not able to see what was inside of the containers, but Mirai assumed that it was food, especially when one of the teenagers seemed to be taking something from the boxes, which resembled food she did not recognize. They didn’t seem to realize that she was there, and Mirai decided to speak up, already feeling as if there was going to be some great bonds formed with some of these people. 

“Greetings. I’m Mirai Higurashi. I am the Ultimate Oneirologist. Who are all of you? I expect you are all ultimates as well, going by instinct.” Mirai said softly, before waving to all of the people in the dining hall. The five all turned away from their conversations to look at Mirai, who was walking to the most populated table and sitting down. 

“Hello, hello, dear soul! It appears we are all imprisoned here, and now we have found a new soul! How astonishing!” A girl with long, white hair said, she jumping up from her seat as her hat almost fell off her head, and her cape flowed behind her. “And right you are, we are all ultimates! I’m the Ultimate Spiritual Communicator, Haruka Miyawaki! A oneirologist is interesting… I wonder what the story behind that career is!”

“Ah, I was named after the future due to what a fortune teller told my parents of my birth. I’ve been having prophetic dreams ranging from straightforward to unintelligible since I was a small child. It only makes sense I am so in tune with dreams.” Mirai said happily, finding the girl next to her quite interesting in appearance.

Another girl turned to them and began to speak. “A fortune teller, huh? That’s probably bullshit! I’ve been conning people with fake fortunes since I was old enough to do it convincingly! Trust me, that fortune teller was just saying what you wanted to hear.” Mirai didn’t look her way, unbothered due to hearing words alike Kishiko’s often. It was the only thing that turned her off from someone. 

“...Anyways, I’m known as Kishiko Yamazaki! Not telling you my talent yet, just in case, but it’s nice to meetcha. I guess if you wanna, you can believe in fortunes and fate all you want!” Kishiko said, before rolling her eyes and smirking. She let out a small chuckle, and looked over at Haruka. “So, Shorty, do you talk to ghosts or something?”

“Yes, I often communicate with spiritual entities! And I can tell you have an absolutely extraordinary talent! I have a clue to what it is, but I’ll wait for everyone else to find out!” Haruka then turned to everyone, a smile forming on her face. “And here’s a hint… Kishiko has faced a lot of danger before.”

Kishiko laughed. “So, what’d you think I am, then? There’s a lot of talents that include danger.” She said, seeming confident.

“Hm… Daredevil, Pyromancer, Assassin, Sports Star, Urban Climber, Bike Gang Leader… Malefactor…” A boy with light-green hair said, a suspicious look forming on his face as his mouth emitted the word ‘malefactor.’ “It’d make sense if you were a criminal… That’s why you’d be so hesitant to tell us your talent.”

Kishiko’s smile faltered for a moment. “A criminal, huh? Well…” She paused, thinking to herself for a few silent moments. “You’d be right! I am in fact the Ultimate Malefactor. Impressive, aren’t I?”

“Yes… as I expected! I was certainly correct, wasn’t I?” Haruka said, going from sitting to standing on her seat as she raised her arms and bowed, as if reaching out to a crowd.

Another boy came up to Mirai and then began to speak, ignoring Kishiko’s talent reveal. “As I should introduce myself to everyone, my name is Hideki Hasegawa! I am the Ultimate Animateur! It is nice to meet you, Mirai. Is it too much to suppose you could tell me more about my dreams on another day?” He said loudly, as if using a stage voice. It was as if he was acting out a character.

“Salutations, Hideki. It is good to know your name. I should introduce myself to Mirai as well.” The green-haired boy said, crossing his arms and walking towards Mirai as well. He held out his hand for Mirai to shake. “I am the Ultimate Bike Courier, but you may know me as Eita Kasuda. I wish to have great experiences with you in the future, Mirai.”

“It’s nice to meet you two. I’d be happy to tell you about your dreams someday.” Mirai said calmly, looking around at everyone she had met so far. She turned to Eita. “I’d like to have great experiences with you in the future too, if fate allows for it.”

“Blah blah blah…” Haruka said, making her hand imitate words. She jumped on the table, and stood up as much as she could. “Now that we all know each other, let’s face the bigger issue! We’re all trapped in this stupid place! I haven’t looked in many other rooms, but for the rooms that I have seen, the windows are covered up, and the main doors are locked! Do any of you have any memory of getting here? Because I don’t! Not even the ghosts can assist me in the most tragic of times…”

Mirai listened for a while, and decided to give her opinion. “I don’t see any problem. If we are trapped in this school, I suppose that’s just how our story will go. I’d prefer for us to have no real troubles, but I don’t see how this is very tragic. We have food and water here, after all.”

Kishiko began to shout forcefully at Mirai. “Are you dense? If we’re trapped, they’re gonna do something to us! Probably you first because of your attitude and all that. Plus, we don’t remember anything. As a criminal, I know there’s a reason for that, dumbass.” Mirai simply sighed and didn’t reply. Replying to her wouldn’t help.

“Calm, Kishiko. Calm. I understand your pain and confusion, but most of us feel the same, except for Mirai, obviously. Just try to remain tranquil, and we’ll eventually figure this out.” Eita said, putting his hand on Kishiko’s shoulder, trying to calm her down. “Hideki, what do you think? We haven’t heard your opinion yet.”

“My opinion is that we should search the other rooms of this academy before discussion! There is most likely something worth looking at somewhere in this academy, and there could be more people in different areas!” Hideki said, thinking back to all of the rooms he passed before getting to the dining hall.

“Alright. I saw a sign that there was a library somewhere around here. I’m pretty sure something like that would hold some clues. There is probably more people around here as well.” Eita agreed, explaining what he thought would be the best course of action. 

“Alright. I’m heading out already, then. I’m gonna look for a weapon or some clues or some shit.” Kishiko said, before gesturing to everyone. “Who’s coming with me?” 

“Yes, I will! I would love to hang out with so amazing as you! Larceny, arson, destruction, such art!” Haruka said, cupping her hands together and following Kishiko out the door. “I wonder what the story is behind you… I’d love to get to know you more!”

“You get to know as much as you find out about me!” Kishiko said loudly, the last thing spoken before they both left. Mirai smiled as she looked back at everyone.

“They’re destined to have a bond, I suppose. Ah, the miracle of fate… I feel almost as if I’ve seen them in a dream.” Mirai responded, seeing the two walk out the door. “Anyways, let’s all go check the library, I feel as if destiny wants us to meet those who ended up there.”

Hideki and Eita nodded as they both went out the door. Mirai followed both of them. Eita led them all to the library, passing several doors marked as different rooms. They soon arrived at the library door, and Eita pushed open the door. They saw four new students conversing with each other. He spoke up, introducing himself, Hideki, and Mirai before they had a chance to do so for themselves.

“Salutations, you all. I assume you all have found out that we are trapped her as well, and must be ultimate students as well. Am I wrong in my assumptions?” Eita asked, but quickly added to his words before the others had a chance to answer. “This is Mirai Higurashi and Hideki Hasegawa, the ultimate Oneirologist and Ultimate Animateur. I am the Ultimate Bike Courier, Eita Kasuda.

Mirai stayed silent, comfortable with being introduced by someone other than herself. If anything, she supposed, it was easier. Hideki looked as if he was about to introduce himself but was cut off by Eita doing so. Hideki sighed.

“Oh. My. God.” A perky red haired boy, spoke up. His eyes wide with mesmerization as he inched towards them, “Have you guys been in oysters all your lives? Because you’re the prettiest petals I’ve ever seen.” 

He seemed content with this line, before he straightened himself. A faint cough came from him as he finally begun introducing himself, “My name is Hideyoshi Kurosawa, the Ultimate Pearl Diver. Of course, you may call me as any names you all desire. If that is to your choosing.” He gave a faint wink to all of them, before stepping aside for the rest in the room. 

A grey haired boy spoke up next. Well, he more or less coughed first, giving a small look to a boy who stood behind him. He seems to try and stop a piercing glare, but was unable to through the boy’s nervous backing away. He gave a small sigh, frowning as if he or someone else had done something wrong. 

“Ultimate Foley Artist, Hibiki Nakano,” He closed his eyes, staying silent before speaking up once more. “Please tell everyone else. I do not wish to do so.” He became blunt about it, near childish if his gaze wasn’t that strong or serious. After he gave a slight nod, he looked to the other two in the room. Hibiki gestured to Eita and Mirai, as if telling them to go ahead and speak. 

Hideki ran off, apparently to talk about what was going on with the rest of the people in the library. Mirai simply blankly waved hello at the two teenagers she had just met, and turned to Hibiki to respond to his request. “Why not introduce yourself?” She asked the boy, although she had no real problems with it. She didn’t feel like exploring the library like the others, and had nothing much to do while they looked around.

Hibiki shook his head, making his left hand into a fist he brought it to his mouth. He seemed to try and signal something, but wasn’t fully sure if anyone was going to get it. He shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. He kept his eyes closed, waiting for a response or a noise to come from someone or something. 

Mirai decided that perhaps Hibiki just didn’t want to speak and would rather just signal things. She shrugged it off and decided to talk to others. Her eyes scanned everyone, and she settled on the girl in pink who was clinging to another girl. As Mirai approached, the girl in pink waved happily, before speaking.

“I’m Tsubaki Arakawa!” She said happily, full of energy as she bounced around. Mirai’s eyes focused on the tattoo on the girl’s arm. She felt as if she recognized the logo. Her eyes moved away to focus in on her artist’s apron. Ah. “I’m the Ultimate Abstract Artist, and of course, I’m known for eccentric pieces filled with passion, edginess, and energy!”

Mirai felt as if she had seen pieces with the logo of the tattoo on her arm before. Hm. “Nice to meet you, too, Tsubaki.” She said quietly, much more relaxed and composed compared to Tsubaki’s loud, cheerful voice. Mirai opened her mouth to continue to speak when Tsubaki turned back to the girl she was clinging to and she began rambling about something Mirai couldn’t place. It seemed that she was preoccupied. 

“Ah, Mirai and Eita! Such excellent names! Mind if I call you Moonstone, Mirai? Such a beautiful, glowing gem would fit a scientist of dreams! And how about you, Eita? Shall you like the name Emerald? Such a marvelous gemstone of green surely fits your appearance, and your tranquility!” A blue-haired girl spoke, being the one who Tsubaki was clinging to. 

“Wait… I forgot to introduce myself! Oh, I’m so sorry… I should have introduced myself. Oh, here I am, rambling on once again. I’m Taeko Takahashi, the Ultimate Jeweler. I create jewelry out of refined and spectacular gemstones! Don’t mind Turquoise, she likes to be close to somebody! She’s already been a great friend!”

“So, Tsubaki, Taeko, Hideyoshi, and Hibiki… They are quite the characters, just like you, Mirai.” Eita said, turning back to Mirai and having a small smile on his face. He seemed to be happy that there was so many different personalities in the area. “Do you wish to scavenge the area with me for clues, or should I do it alone? I won’t be offended if you don’t want to search.”

“I’d rather not.” Mirai said immediately, preferring to just look through the books. Her feet took her to a certain section, and she wondered if they had the book she had published. 

“Alright. Farewell, then.” Eita responded, looking at the shelves, and scanning the books for anything that seemed out-of-the-ordinary.

“Oh, I want to help search! Maybe there are some books about gemstones here! I’ll be right back, Turquoise! I’ll gladly find out the mystery of this school-like place!” Taeko said, joining Eita in his search, pulling books out of the shelves and scanning through them.

In the bookshelves, there seemed to be thousands of books aligned, each organized according to title, author, and type. Some books were typical books you’d find in a school, such as famous novels, books filled with scientific facts and research, journals from history. Yet, some were oddly eerie in their titles. Some books focused on poisons and death, deadly killers in the past, mysterious and supernatural occurrences. It was all strange. 

“Ah, this is odd…” Mirai spoke out loud, pulling out a book about poisons on the shelf. “Deadly Nightshade, having the appearance alike that of blackberries… Flax-Leaved Daphne, red berries accompanied by small, white flowers… it is certainly an odd work of fate to place such books in a school for teenagers. These can possibly lead to dangerous occurrences. What do you all think about this?”

Mirai turned around, and showed the book she was holding, pictures of different poisonous berries being shown on the pages. Everyone turned towards Mirai, curious as to what she discovered. Eita was the first to respond, walking towards Mirai as he closely observed the book and Mirai’s findings.

“It wouldn’t be odd for a book about berries and plants to be in a school, but this book appears to have all types of different poisons. It is certainly odd…” Eita responded, grabbing the book from Mirai’s hands and scanning through page after page, his eyes directly focused on the book.

“Oh, how dreadfully dangerous! A school shouldn’t have something like this so close to such young, fragile minds…” Taeko spoke up, looking over Eita’d shoulder at the book. She then turned to Tsubaki, and rushed up to hug the girl. “But don’t worry, I’ll protect you turquoise! It would be absolutely disastrous if you were damaged because of such dangerous opportunities surrounding us!” 

Tsubaki seemed to be even more happy than her default state seemed to be. “I’ll protect you too, Taeko! No matter what’s in the way!” What she has said so strongly was at first glance just a friendship, the almost creepy smile on Tsubaki’s face made Mirai squint her eyes for a half-second.

“It’s odd that you two have formed a bond too quickly…” Eita pointed out, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. He noticed Tsubaki’s strange, somewhat twisted smile just as Mirai did.

“I wish I would be able to form bonds that quickly. My attempts at forming relationships aren’t exactly… good.” Hideyoshi stated, a slightly nervous chuckle following his words as the taller male behind him continued stay silent. Hideyoshi looked back, and sighed, “Come on man, you should speak up more.” He paused, before turning to Mirai, not having received that well of a response from his remark when Eita and Mirai entered the room. “If you perhaps didn’t hear. I am Hideyoshi Kurosawa, the Ultimate Pearl Diver. Please, let me know if you need anything. Especially for a pearl like you, let me know if I’m not your type.”

“Oh, alright… It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hideyoshi!” Mirai said, cupping her hands together. “I don’t mind your flirtatiousness, as it is just fate.”

“Anyways, we haven’t found anything here besides these odd books about death, mystery, and murder. It would be best if we tried to find more people, or find more answers about where we were.” Eita spoke, only a tone of seriousness in his voice. He thought it was time to end conversing, and time to find out more about the school they were imprisoned in. “Mirai, Tsubaki, Taeko, Hibiki, and Hideyoshi, would you like to come with?”

“I’ll come with. It’s easy to see that fate wants me to go.” Mirai said, feeling that she would have to be more active than usual. This situation would most likely be interesting. She had to meet everyone in order to make her own path in destiny.

“I’ll stay here with Turquoise!” Taeko said, hugging Tsubaki. She closed her eyes, and smiled brightly as Tsubaki was wrapped in her arms.

“I imagine Hideyoshi here is hesitant to do anything. Go on ahead.” Hibiki said, sighing as he looked at the small male behind him.

“Alright. Come, Mirai. We have to find out more about this school, and its inhabitants. Let’s go to the next nearest room.” Eita said, taking Mirai’s hand and leading her out the door, without letting her say a thing. Mirai felt mildly annoyed, but ignored her irritation. It didn’t matter. “It appears there’s a chemistry lab. Let’s go.”

Eita opened the door to the chemistry lab, where more people were waiting. Six individuals stood there, conversing with one another. However, they both looked towards Eita and Mirai when they entered.

“Do you want to introduce yourself, Mirai? Sorry about before, about introducing you before you could be given a chance.” A solemn smile embellished Eita’s expression, as he walked next to Mirai and laughed. 

“I didn’t really mind, but I suppose I am to introduce myself. I am Mirai Higurashi, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am the Ultimate Oneirologist and deal with the world of dreams. I expect that all of you are ultimates too, yes?” Mirai spoke, introducing herself softly before walking out of the spotlight.

Eita then turned to the crowd of people, and introduced himself as well. “You may call me Eita Kasuda. I am the Ultimate Bike Courier.”

“Sup you two? Nice to see that there’s more people around besides these guys.” The larger girl stepped from the group, gesturing to them with her thumb. She adjusted her hat, pushing it back as she smiled widely, “I’m Kaoru Hayashi, Ultimate Snake Milker.” 

Another male scoffed behind her, his arms folded. He snickered before looking at them all, “A talent that requires little thinking. No wonder you are acting like this, your mind is so dumb you cannot comprehend what could be going on.” He brushed away some of his deep blue hair from his left eye. 

“Says you. What’s your talent again? Some janitor?” Kaoru held up a fist to him, watching as he backed away with a frown. 

“Not a janitor. I am Osamu Saitou, Ultimate Crime Scene Cleaner. I know and have seen more things than you have. Shut your mouth.” He hissed back at her, before looking to Mirai and Eita, giving them a glare. 

“Now that you freaks are done speaking.” Another girl spoke up, walking to the front of the group, studying Eita and Mirai, “An asymmetrical freak and a somewhat decently proportioned person.” She first looked at Eita and then to Mirai, trying her best to keep her voice quiet with her comment.

“Greetings Mirai, Eita…” She spoke Eita’s name with a form of disgust, “...I am the Ultimate Ocularist, Akiko Ueno.” She gave a small curtsy towards Mirai before straightening herself out. 

“Ah, I see you dislike me because of my appearance. I understand.” Eita said, smiling as if the comment towards his appearance didn’t affect him at all. “It was nice to meet you anyways, Akiko.”

The last two males in the room didn’t seem particularly interested in introducing themselves. Mirai walked over to them, and finally, one of them began to speak. 

“Since you seem to need an introduction… Ryo Komatsuzaki, known more commonly as the Ultimate Information Broker. I’d tell you my contact info in case you want my services, but I’m quite sure we’ll all die here, anyways.” He seemed confident, as if he knew everything, but it couldn’t just be a side effect of his talent.

“If so, isn’t that just the destiny our path is leading to?” Mirai said dreamily, as if even death was just another dream in her mind.

“Huh. I heard you were obsessed with fate. Anyways, if you’re looking for a conversation, go to someone else.” Ryo said, pointing to the other students as he walked away.

Mirai walked over to the other boy who hadn’t introduced himself, who was looking away from everyone in the corner of the room. “Hello.” She said blankly, beginning her wait for a response.

He stared at her, not saying anything. Mirai could hear the mumble of: “do I have to?” under his breath as he walked one step closer to Mirai. “I’m the Ultimate Harpist. Ritsu Shimizu.” He then looked to the side, waiting but also dreading a response.

“Ah, the harp. Such a beautiful instrument. I love listening to music as I transition into the world of dreams.” Mirai said, smiling. She imagined that a harp played by Ritsu would be incredibly beautiful.

“I don’t see any musical instruments or CDs around here. No one here will ever listen to proper music again. We’re all trapped here, and I didn’t see a music room around.”

“The harp is certainly an interesting musical instrument. But you’re correct, we’ll probably never hear music again, if we are indeed trapped here without any clue with how to escape.” Eita said, tapping his chin as he thought about everything. He looked around the chemistry lab, observing everything in the room. “I wonder if there are any clues in here…”

“But who says that we can’t make music without those things? Music must have existed before the world of instruments. All that’s needed is us, and our creativity. Perhaps I’ll hear our future melodies in my dreams.” Mirai said, rather optimistically. “We even have one of the most gifted musicians in the world with us.” 

Ritsu looked taken aback, not able to really find the right words for a response to the compliment and instead taking a step backwards. “Goodbye.” He mumbled, waiting for Mirai and Eita to walk away.

“Farewell, I suppose. I hope you just know that you’ll find out that not everything is hopeless. You’re talented, and don’t forget that.” Eita said, winking at Ritsu and then walking away. He looked around the room, and saw a male standing in the corner, reading away at a book about nature and chemical reactions.

“Hey, Mirai, we should ask him who he is.” Eita said, pointing out the dark-haired male in the corner.

Mirai nodded before murmuring. “Mhm.” She didn’t object to the idea, and decided to let Eita take the reins of the next conversation.

“Oh, are you speaking about me?” The male said, turning around and looking towards Mirai and Eita. “Well, to satisfy your curiosity, I shall introduce myself. I have been named Sora Kimura as a child, and been referred to by that name since that time. For the past years of my life, I have been heavily invested in the study of nature, and have become the Ultimate Dendrologist after my constant pursuing of hard work and research.”

“Ah, a person that speaks eloquently. That’s quite… troublesome, yet somehow refreshing.” Eita responded, smiling after Sora introduced himself.

“I had heard the colloquy between you two and that harpist over there. I do not wish to associate with people like you two, you two being heavily clouded by the qualities of kindness and trust you two both possess, I refer to those type of people as naive, so farewell.” Sora said plainly, walking away once again in order to read his book once again. 

Mirai decided not to respond. Sora could do whatever Sora wanted to do, even if his last line bothered her. She didn’t see herself as naive at all. “Naive... Am I?”

“Let’s… just ignore him, Mirai. We should investigate more about this area, like we did with the library earlier.” Eita spoke, rolling his eyes at Sora’s comment.

“You’re… you’re right, I suppose, but I’m not particularly interested in that. I would prefer to search around more for people in the school. So far, there are fifteen students. It seems like a solid number, but I can tell that destiny’s path shall lead me to find a final student, so it makes sixteen. I know there is somebody missing, and it’s obviously fate for me to meet them.” Mirai responded, smiling as she made predictions, even without her dreams. 

Mirai began walking away from Eita, closing her eyes as she walked, following her gut. By the end of her walk, she was in front of a place labeled as the garden. Her hands reached to the door and pushed it open to walk into a small garden. Under her feet was soft, well trimmed grass, and colorful flowers bloomed next to her feet. There were multiple beautiful trees next to decorations and lamps. She wondered who had maintained the garden. The wind was pleasant on her skin, and she sat down on a white bench.

“Ah... this is relaxing. How calming.” She said, closing her eyes. It was almost like a nice dream.

“Ah!” A girl yelled, jumping back and falling to the ground.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there.” Mirai said, turning around and looking to see a girl in the corner of the garden, next to some large sunflowers. She reached her hand out for the girl to take.

“Oh… it’s fine… I didn’t know anybody else was here… I-I was just here, all alone, waking up here. I didn’t go check anywhere else, so I thought I was alone…” The girl said, reaching out towards Mirai and grabbing her hand. She stood up with Mirai’s help, and adjusted herself. She messed with her fingers while she spoke, looking down and not facing Mirai directly. She was clearly embarrassed, and blushed as she let go of Mirai’s hand.

“I understand. It’s easy for anyone to get lost in the beauty and fragrance of the flowers.” Mirai replies, smiling as she spun around to look at all the flowers and trees around the area. She then began speaking again. “No need to be so shy. I’m Mirai Higurashi, the Ultimate Oneirologist. Now, introduce yourself.”

“U-uh…” The girl stuttered, twirling her fingers nervously. “Calm, Kagome, calm… I am Kagome Ainara, The Ultimate Horror Novelist. It’s great to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too.” Mirai said confidently. Suddenly, she paused, squinting as she looked at Kagome, looking briefly shocked. “I feel as if I’ve met you before! This truly feels like fate. What an amazing feeling, even if I’ve felt it hundreds of times before. You must be special.”

Kagome blushed, “Uh, th-thank you… I’ve never gotten a compliment like that before… but… I hope you’re not a person that takes advantage of other people’s trust. You don’t know much I’m used to those people.

“Fate is special, Kagome! If you’re used to those people, I won’t be one of them.” Mirai said in her own vein of logic.

“Hopefully not.” Kagome said, looking down and sighing, as if she was reminiscing on unpleasant memories.

Mirai poked Kagome’s forehead to stop her train of thought. “Would you like to leave the garden? There are sixteen fated people including you and I.”

“Ah!” Kagome yelled, surprised that Mirai poked her. “Oh, sorry… I was just… shocked. Yes, leaving here would be best.”

Suddenly, a loud voice rang throughout the room, and Mirai’s and Kagome’s conversation was interrupted. They both looked up, to see a black and white bear on a monitor, his voice echoing loudly amongst the entire building.

“Hello, hello! Is this working? Ah, yes, it is. Hello, my students! I am your headmaster, Monokuma! Please come to the gym immediately, my talented students! Farewell for now!” The bear, called Monokuma, announced. The monitor turned off immediately after, the only thing remaining being Mirai’s and Kagome’s confused expressions.

“Wh-what… was that?” Kagome said, her voice nervous and fearful as she stepped back and shook her head, mumbling something afterwards. “It’s like I’m going insane.”

“Ah, our path down a road of fate begins!” Mirai said, jumping up and down as she took Kagome’s hand. “Let’s go!”


	2. Prologue Part Two

Mirai started to run. 

“Wait!” Kagome yelled as Mirai led Kagome out of the garden, and into the halls. The gym was right nearby, just down the hallway. Mirai didn’t let Kagome finish, as she charged down the hall, holding Kagome’s hand. Mirai found herself weaker than she expected, mainly due to mainly sitting around at home. She disregarded it. She ran until they both were at the large gym doors, meticulously decorated with swirls and curves, painted in a vibrant red. Mirai pushed open the door slightly, and everyone was already there, loud chatter being heard from the crowd, and amongst all the chaotic talking, Haruka was standing on the stage, about to speak. Mirai slowly walked in, leading Kagome as well.

“Everyone, everyone! Attention, please!” Haruka yelled to the small crowd of students, raising her arms in the air and tapping her foot. Mirai chuckled, as did Kagome, at Haruka’s behavior. “We’re all trapped here, if you didn’t see. We need to stop chatting and talk about what we’ve all found out, before that stupid bear randomly appears again!”

“Well, you can talk later, miss Miyawaki, but right now, it’s my time to gloriously shine in the spotlight of despair!” A mysterious voice yelled out, as a shining sphere of illumination started to fade in, showing up on the stage.

“Ah!” Haruka screamed, being pushed back and running off the stage, afraid as to what the light was, and going back to Kishiko. Finally, the light started to fade, and in it’s place was a bear, his two colors of black and white being split right in the middle, and a shining red eye on his dark side. The bear cackled and raised his arms, waving towards the students, as if welcoming them. Mirai felt particularly curious, but also knew that the experience was one that was meant to be.

“Welcome, my students! I am Monokuma, your wonderful headmaster for this semester of despair!” Monokuma yelled out to the crowd of students, his voice especially childish and enthusiastic. Mirai smiled at the strangeness, curious of what was to happen, because of her not seeing anything about this within her dreams.

“What are you, exactly, ‘Monokuma’? You seem like a pretty advanced AI thus far with a clear personality, if you are not being controlled by anyone.” Eita spoke, walking closer to the stage, looking directly towards the robotic bear.

“An AI? More like a stuffed animal! What kind of shitty prank is this?” Kaoru yelled out, rolling her eyes and tapping her foot impatiently.

“A stuffed animal? He’s obviously a robot or something like that. Stuffed animals don’t talk, you idiotic bitch! Have you been watching too many movies? He’s obviously an artificial intelligence. Not like some Snake Milker or whatever your talent is will get that.” Kishiko yelled, charging towards Kaoru.

“She’s no use, Kishiko. Just another idiot, unlike us. Right, Kishiko?” Haruka said, smiling a wide, unnerving smile as she jumped up and down. 

“I guess you’re right, shorty. Ha!” Kishiko laughed, and turned back towards Haruka, finishing the argument she started immediately.

“Hey, don’t start an argument with me and then be too much of a coward to finish it!” Kaoru yelled back, crossing her arms and growling. There was no response from Kishiko.

“Everyone, calm down and let Monokuma talk!” Eita yelled out to the crowd, turning his back to Monokuma.

“Mirai, this is… weird. Am I dreaming? What is this? Please tell me I’m not going insane…” Kagome said, her breathing growing heavy and unnatural, her body shaking violently. She looked down, and put her arms close to her chest. It was as if the world was shaking in her eyes. 

“Kagome? Are you alright?” Mirai put her face close to Kagome’s, and made sure her breathing was alright. She whispered to Kagome. “Calm down, it’s okay, it’s okay… This is just a strange work of fate! It’s nothing to be concerned about. Oh no, I’m not good at counseling or anything… I know how to read dreams, but not read people… I’m sorry, Kagome. Just know… you’re going to be alright. You’re safe. Someone so special can’t die yet!”

Monokuma stared directly at Mirai, “Safe? Everybody here is especially safe! This is a place of peace and harmony! Here, you’ll all live together in prosperity and fortune, for the rest of your lives! No fighting, no arguing, no entropy or discord! And especially no despair!”

“Wait, let me get this straight. Live. Here. Forever. That doesn’t sound right. Does that sound right?” Hideki asked, looking around at everybody in anticipation. Suddenly, he smiled, and pointed his finger up as if he figured everything out. “This must be a live performance, a live show! What a miraculous event! All of you did great thus far in order to trick us all!”

“Ah, a live show! Turquoise and I can collaborate to make an extraordinary art piece to show the entire world! It’ll be fantastic, wouldn’t it Turquoise? My gemstones and your abstract art, coalescing together to make a masterpiece to show the whole world!” Taeko said, hugging Tsubaki next to her.

“Of course, Taeko! Everything we make will be amazing with you helping! I feel so inspired when I’m with you!” Tsubaki said, hugging Taeko in return.

“Everybody, I don’t think this is a live show. I think Monokuma is being completely serious.” Eita stated, staring at everyone in the crowd, smiling and laughing as they thought the entire thing was a complete joke.

“Yes, that’s true. As if someone would kidnap us just to show us a live show. All of you must be idiotic. Perhaps the perpetrator is lowering our guard with this… bear.” Ryo said from the wall he leaned on, seeming rather collected. 

“It is certainly perplexing… An artificial intelligence kidnapping all of these individuals, just for the motive of providing them a small space they must occupy, in which they must thrive together in perfect concord in said environment. It is inexplicable and unfathomable. They require another intention in order to make logical sense.” Sora explained, walking in a circle as he spoke.

“We’re… all hostages! We’re all going to die! We’re all meant to die!” Ritsu yelled, throwing his hands over his head and running to the corner of the room, beginning to cower and hide.

“Ah, a beauty such as yourself shouldn’t be worrying so much, Ritsu. We’re all not going to perish in here, so don’t worry.” Hideyoshi said, running towards the fearful harpist and putting his hands on Ritsu’s shoulders.

“Get away from me!” Ritsu yelled anxiously, pushing Hideyoshi aside and knocking him to the floor. 

“Mirai… what if… what if Ritsu’s right? What if we’re all going to die here? I deserve it… but nobody else here deserves such a fate…” Kagome still said, in between her heavy breaths, still extremely worried and anxious as she didn’t want to see what would happen next.

“Kagome… It’s alright… You don’t deserve it, either. You haven’t done anything wrong, have you? Fate’s only cruel to those who deserve it.” Mirai held Kagome as much as she could, trying to support her new friend as much as she could.

Mirai didn’t say much, standing still next Kagome, who seemed to slowly be calming down. The keyword was slowly, as Mirai barely felt a difference as she supported Kagome’s weight. She could hear the voices of everyone she had met so far arguing over the bear. It didn’t really matter whether Mirai spoke up or not. Fate would find itself without her.

“Ah, already so much despair and hatred floating around! Well, I’ll tell you, that Eita boy is correct! This isn’t a joke! You all are trapped here for the rest of your lives! However, there is an exception to this rule…” Monokuma then paused forebodingly, in order to add tension to his words. “Murder…” 

Everyone had completely different reactions. Some were unnaturally overjoyed and excited, some were frightened, and some were indifferent. The tension grew, as the game finally began. In all of the silence, the enthusiastic Haruka spoke first.

“Murder? Oooh, this is so exciting! Isn’t it, Kishiko?” Haruka jumped up and down, clapping her hands at Monokuma’s announcement. “I’ve been so used to murder and death! My clients all whine about so much dying, that death is basically a common topic for me by now!” 

“Ah, I know murder all too well! Even though I’ve never personally committed it, it’s all too common an experience in a criminal’s life. It certainly is exciting.” Kishiko agreed, putting her hands on her hips.

“Are… are you kidding me? Murder? You must be kidding, right? I can’t die yet!” Akiko yelled out, touching her face and hitting the ground. “Please, not yet!”

“Ah, death. A topic I’m… not familiar with, but am indifferent about.” Hibiki said, his words simple and short.

“Why aren’t you all worried about this?!” Taeko yelled out, hugging Tsubaki tightly. “Aren’t you afraid to lose your lives?! I would be shattered if my precious gems were taken from me… I love hearing their beautiful voices and thoughts… I can’t live without them, and they can’t live without me! Don’t you feel the same about your loved ones?!”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to lose Taeko! I’ve… lost so many already!” Tsubaki yelled out, hanging her head down. She was silent for a moment.

“Some of you people are crazy! Why are you indifferent, or even excited, about something like death?! I don’t wanna die, I don’t want to die!” Ritsu screamed out, still hiding in the corner of the room, protecting himself with his arms. 

“Mirai… I… need to go…” Kagome whispered, feeling dizzy and anxious about everything. She anticipated the worst, and wanted to be alone during all the chaos. Before Mirai could say anything, Kagome ran off out of the doors of the gym. 

“Kagome…” Mirai reached her hand out to the open doors, seeing Kagome run down the hall, and out of sight. She felt hopeless right then, seeing the girl run out of the door, without giving Mirai a chance. It hit Mirai hard, even if she just met Kagome. She felt strongly, which was a rare occurrence in her life. Kagome obviously needed somebody at that moment, but Kagome rejected Mirai’s help. She supposed… it was fate.

“Monokuma, may I have the pleasure of your elaboration on the subject of murder? There must be a catch to such conditions, so more detail on such matters would be appreciated by us all.” Sora asked, walking up to the stage, his arms behind his back. 

“Oh, yes you may!” Monokuma yelled out in response, waving his arms in anticipation. He stood up straight, and began to speak. “If you disrupt the glorious harmony in this school, by pursuing something such as murder, you’ll have to be taken out of the school… as in, graduate. However, murder is simply not enough. You’ll also have to survive a class trial!”

“A class trial? Is that a little argument game or something? Ridiculous!” Kaoru yelled, raising her fists, as if threatening to punch Monokuma for his foolishness.

“Shut it, fool. Your mannerisms are reckless, and you will most likely suffer for such speech towards our ‘headmaster’ here.” Sora spoke, running towards Kaoru and pulling her back.

“Each student has the chance to debate and discuss about whomever killed their precious acquaintance! Converse about the many clues laid out for you, and figure out the killer! They will vote for who they think killed their glorious victim.” Monokuma then laughed maniacally, his red eye glowing ominously. “However, if the killer evades them, then the culprit shall go free, and all students shall be punished for getting it wrong! On the other hand, if the students vote correctly, then only the killer gets punished! And what does punishment mean? It means… death!” 

“Death…? Death?!” Eita yelled, his usually calmly manner fading. “I won’t let you hurt anybody here, Monokuma! Your ridiculous shenanigans are over, stupid bear! I was calm up until now, but threatening us with something as serious as death?”

“Fool! Your mannerisms are exactly like Kaoru’s, impulsive and arrogant! Stop being naive, and shut it, before your life is at risk!” Sora yelled angrily, still holding back Kaoru.

“Let us take him! He’s just a ridiculous stuffed animal, not a master criminal!” Kaoru yelled, pushing Sora away, and raising her fist towards the sky. “Let’s go, Eita!”

Mirai, still in the back of the room comprehending Kagome’s actions, didn’t say anything. Fate would take it’s path, whether people were meant to live or not. She took no action, and was stationary, staring at the stage where Monokuma continued to laugh maniacally. That was until she realized she could control fate right then. She ran towards the stage before Kaoru and Eita could reach the stage, and put her arms out in front of Monokuma, protecting him. This was her chance to make her fate her own, to affect the future in some way. Monokuma obviously wasn’t joking, even in his strange, bear-like form. His ominous chuckling was proof of that. Sora was right, and they couldn’t risk impulsiveness. 

“No! Don’t kill yourselves just because of some petty vengeance! Don’t let your destiny end here! You’re all destined for something much greater than dying at the hands of this fiend!” Mirai shouted, looking around from person to person as she spoke loudly.

“Oh, you’re certainly the brave one, student! Puhuhu!” Monokuma laughed. “You’re certainly brave to stand up against a bunch of heartless, rash people who want to destroy poor old me!”

“Poor?!” Akiko yelled. “You’re the freak who kidnapped us!” 

“Blah blah blah. Stop complaining. Your obsession with symmetrical figures is idiotic, and so is your reaction. We’ll all die. So what?” Ryo said, waving his hand around as he spoke.

“Personally, I find this exciting!” Haruka exclaimed, waving her hands in the air as she twirled. “I mean, a death game? Who wouldn’t be obsessed with something with emotions and betrayal? It’s a game to win, and we must play!”

“You’re certainly enthusiastic about this, ghost girl. I like you.” Kishiko said, standing next to Haruka and putting her hand on Haruka’s shoulder.

“Of course! I’m the ultimate Spiritual Communicator! Of course I would be excited for something that calls for my abilities!” Haruka yelled, jumping so much that her purple hat was close to falling off.

“Foolish! All of you are foolish!” Eita yelled. “Mirai, why are you defending him? I don’t care if I die, or if people who want death die, but everyone who wants to live deserves to survive!” 

Mirai was about to answer, but a force suddenly threw her off the stage. One second, she stood there proudly, albeit hesitant and afraid, but the next second, she was pushed off the stage with a loud, forceful gust of air. Monokuma chuckled, and Mirai’s body hit the ground.

“Mirai!” Eita yelled, running up to Mirai and making certain she was okay. Mirai coughed, and put her hand on her head, her body now excruciatingly pained from the landing on to the ground. 

“I-I’m alright. I just… need some time… to heal. I thankfully… didn’t land on my head.” Mirai said, barely able to speak as she comprehended what had just occurred.

“Puhuhu! Be aware, this is not just a game! This is life or death! If you were to attack me… even more disastrous things would happen than simply being pushed off a simple stage… such as… explosions! Stabbing! Bludgeoning! Bone shattering! Anything can happen, because I am in complete control! Fear me, peasants, for I am the great god, Super Monokuma!” Monokuma yelled out, extending his arms to the crowd while sarcastically pretending to show off his muscles.

“Your attempt to be threatening is… childish.” Ryo muttered, completely unfazed by Monokuma’s antics.

“Whatever you say! Just know, I am not to be played with!” Monokuma said, putting his paws on his hips while standing proudly. “Now, farewell, my students! I also have a parting gift for you! These are called Monopads!”

Monokuma proceeded to throw sixteen tablet-like objects at all of the students, every one of the students catching their assigned Monopad, except with Mirai catching both hers and Kagome. Mirai was reminded to find Kagome afterwards and tell her what had occurred. 

“These hold every detail about the school, including information about other students, a map system, and school rules! Be sure to follow these rules perfectly, or else, you might be punished by death! Be sure not to break these, as they are very important to your school life here! Puhuhu! Now, goodbye!” Monokuma yelled, just before disappearing behind the stage. 

“Alright, so now what do we do?! There’s some sort of crazed robotic bear that kidnapped us, and we have no way to get out of here, besides murdering an innocent person! How do we get out of this?!” Akiko yelled out, hiding her tears as she screamed.

“I don’t want death! I can’t die so soon! I don’t want Taeko to die either!” Tsubaki said, hugging Taeko as tightly as she could.

“Don’t worry! I’ll protect you Tsubaki! Hopefully…” Taeko said, patting Tsubaki’s back, with tears starting to form in her eyes.

“All of you are overreacting. I’ve dealt with so many worse things, you wouldn’t be able to comprehend what I’ve seen. Stop being such children, and grow up. People die, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Ryo said, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently.

“What about-“ Hideki was about to say, before he was interrupted.

“Everyone, shut up! Stop it with your talk of nonsense and focus on Mirai! Are all of you too selfish to see that she’s hurt!?” Eita said, holding Mirai’s head as her body was still on the floor, in pain. “We need to get her some food, as soon as possible! We don’t have access to medicine, so some fruit or something should work for now! Somebody help me carry her!”

“I’ll do it, Eita. Sorry for not doing anything earlier. I was too wrapped up in Mirai defending Monokuma that… I couldn’t see she was hurt.” Kaoru apologized, walking up to Eita and helping him in picking up Mirai’s body.

“Thank you…” Mirai said, her bones still aching from her fall. “I think I’ll try get up on my own, though?” She said, stumbling to stand up. 

“Alright…” Both Eita and Kaoru said, slowly letting Mirai on her feet.

Her feet wobbled, and Mirai almost fell once more. But after a minute or so of standing, she felt as if she’d be able to walk, even if it was incredibly slowly. She began to walk, and found that the pain grew more bearable as time went on, either from the pain dying down or getting more used to it. Mirai found that she wasn’t seriously injured, even if her body terribly hurt.

“If you need any help, just tell us! We’ll be right by your side!” Kaoru yelled happily, owning a bright smile.

“Hey! How about we split up? Some of us can go search the school in groups of three, for safety, and the rest can go to the dining hall with Eita, Mirai, and Kaoru! That’s a good idea, right? Yeah? Yeah! It’s a great idea, right from the magnificent, marvelous, miraculous Haruka’s mind!” Haruka said, jumping up and down, proud of her own idea. “Hey, Hey! Kishiko, Ryo! Let’s go search together! I like you two the most!” 

“Alright… Haruka, is it? I’ll join you. You seem alright, albeit a bit too over-enthusiastic, annoying, excruciating to listen to, etcetera. You seem to have befriended Kishiko, so I imagine she’s going to agree as well.” Ryo said, sighing as he explained Haruka’s flaws. Mirai thought he was slightly too harsh, but stayed silent, until it was her time to talk.

“Splitting up is…” Mirai said, pausing as a cough escaped her throat. “A… a good idea.” 

“Shorty’s right! Let’s split up. I’ll make the groups, so sit up straight, you bastards! There’s fifteen of us here, it appears, so this is gonna be like dodgeball. The one’s I don’t pick are the lonely outcasts, and the ones I do pick are the less unlikable ones. Prepare yourselves!” Kishiko yelled, putting her hands on her hips and standing up straight.

Kishiko picked everyone except the ones she disliked the most, leaving Taeko, Tsubaki, and Hideki to join Mirai, Eita, and Kaoru. Everyone else was split into groups of three to assure any possible murdered would be witnessed by somebody else, and ran out the gym door, while the rest of the group was left to walk to the dining hall. Mirai immediately sat down at one of the tables, adjusting herself until she was comfortable. Everyone surrounded her, making sure she was alright.

“It’d be absolutely horrid if your bones were shattered, or your skin was bruised any way! Are you alright, Moonstone? Emerald, is there anything you can do?” Taeko said, putting her hands on Mirai’s shoulders and observing Mirai’s face from both sides in order to check if she was alright. 

“I can’t do much, Taeko. I’m a bike courier, not a nurse…But the least I can do is cook Mirai something. I’m going to the kitchen, to make a fruit salad. Tell me if you need anything!” Eita said, then walking off towards the kitchen, before Kaoru stopped him.

“Hey, how about you cook something for all of us? I can’t remember the last time I ate!” Kaoru yelled out to Eita, walking closer to him.

“Sure, Kaoru. How about you guard the door, in case if anyone finds any important news or details and needs to tell us as soon possible? It’s a job fit for somebody like you.” Eita said, smiling brightly, chuckling a bit.

“Of course! See you guys! I’ll be outside the door!” Kaoru said, then moving away from everyone. Eita moved away as well.

“Mirai, do you have any bruises or broken bones? Are you okay?” Hideki said, sitting next to Mirai, his brows rising as a worried look embellished his face.

“It would hurt much more if it were my bones that were broken. As for bruises, I’m not sure how many I got, actually. My legs are covered in bruises from the fall, I suppose. I grabbed one of my legs when I was wobbling, and it only made my pain worse, so it must be bruises causing that.”

“Turquoise, what do you think? You haven’t said anything ever since I asked Mirai if she was okay.” Taeko said, going to the silent Tsubaki.

“Oh! I was just draining out most of everything other than you, and I kind of spaced out! Y’now that feeling!” Tsubaki smiled, poking herself like she was trying to bring herself back to the real world. “As for my thoughts, well, I don’t have much, other than thinking about when I should put aside time to create an art piece for you!”

“Turquoise… we should focus on Mirai right now. It’s very kind of you to focus on me, but we need to comfort Mirai when she’s in need.” Taeko said, putting her hands on Tsubaki’s shoulders 

“Ah, um… yeah! Okay! All words you say are commandments in my mind, after all!” Tsubaki turned away from Taeko, and then her eyes met Mirai’s. “Are you okay? How badly were you hurt? Should I get you something?” She asked, without her usual passion but rather an extremely forced concerned expression as she leaned forward to Mirai.

“No, you don’t have to force yourself to care…” Mirai responded, noticing Tsubaki’s obvious abhorrence to her forced response of concern. Tsubaki paused, placing her hand over her mouth and thinking.

Tsubaki then asked: “Mirai… are you in need?” She seemed like she really wanted a certain answer. Mirai smiled.

“I’m... not.” Mirai said softly, mainly for Tsubaki’s sake. At hearing her words, Tsubaki’s regular grin returned to her face as she stopped making the forced concerned expression. 

“So you aren’t in need! Perfect!” Tsubaki shouted happily as she went back to Taeko’s side. 

“Hey, Everyone! I’ve made a quick salad for Mirai… It isn’t much, but it is the best I can do in a quick time frame.” Eita yelled out, walking out of the kitchen, carrying a small salad.

“Woah! That was fast! You must be an incredible chef!” Hideki said, looking at the small meal Eita prepared.

“It’s not the time to compliment me. We need to make certain that Mirai is safe. Here.” Eita said, putting the dish in front of Mirai. 

“Thank you, Eita. It looks delicious.” Mirai replies. She took a fork, and put in the salad, grabbing as much food she could. She ate it, and felt her energy being restored immediately, her bones’ pain fading slowly but surely. “This… this is amazing. Thank you so much, Eita.”

“It’s no problem at all. I just want to make sure you’re safe after… what Monokuma did to you…” Eita said, mumbling something under his breath afterwards. “That bastard.”

“I’m fine, Eita. It’s like fate that I’ve met you.” Mirai said happily, smiling as she finished the small amounts of salad she had left.

“Fate, huh? You’re strange, Mirai. Wait…” Eita said, tapping his chin lightly. “I have an idea!”

“Oh, what is your idea, Emerald? We’d like to know! Wouldn’t you, Tsubaki?” Taeko said, poking Tsubaki on the cheek.

“Anything you say, my dear Taeko. So, what is your idea, ‘Emerald’?” Tsubaki said, smiling as she poked Taeko on the shoulder. Mirai slightly laughed at the two’s behavior.

“Um… alright. Let’s get back on topic, you two.” Eita responded, slightly unnerved by Tsubaki’s behavior. “How about we meet up here every morning, in the Dining Hall? It’s a large room, and we can eat breakfast here every morning as we talk and strategize about what to do. If everyone comes to the morning meetings, we can keep track of who’s here and who’s not. It’ll make us one step closer to stopping Monokuma!” 

“It is fate! Amazing idea, Eita!” Mirai said, cupping her hands together while she smiled brightly. It was a perfect idea to her, one that made her truly believe it was fate she met Eita. Tsubaki rolled her eyes, while Taeko jumped up and down at the idea.

“I volunteer to tell everyone about it! I visited Kishiko and Haruka, and they found dorm rooms specifically for all of us. They must have told everyone else about it as well! I’m sure everyone will go back to their rooms soon, so I can tell them after we leave! How about that? Since they searched the rooms, they are able to tell us what they found at the morning meetings!” Hideki said excitedly, happy to be of some use to everyone around him.

“You’re certainly joyful, huh? That’s good! A nice contrast to the dark and mysterious cluster of people here!” Eita said, putting his hands on hips as he laughed.

“See you, everyone! I’ll go find everyone in there rooms! All of you should go to your rooms as well! I’ll tell Kaoru about the news as well! Farewell!” Hideki said, waving goodbye and walking out the door.Soon, everyone left the dining hall one by one to go to their assigned rooms, until Mirai and Eita were left.

“Mirai, are you sure you’re okay enough to walk to your room alone?” Eita asked, sitting next to Mirai in the mostly-empty table.

“Yeah…” Mirai said, sighing as she remembered what she had to do. “I also have to see somebody.”

“Who?” Eita asked, raising his brows in curiousity. 

“A girl I met in the garden. She came with me to the gym, but left early during Monokuma’s announcement. I need to give her the Monopad she is supposed to own.” Mirai said, pulling out Kagome’s Monopad that she caught earlier.

“Alright… Just stay safe. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” Eita replied, putting his hand on Mirai’s shoulder.

“I’ll be careful. Thank you, Eita. You should sleep, and prepare for tomorrow’s morning meeting. After all, you’re like the destined leader of all of us.” Mirai said, smiling sadly, knowing that fate’s path can be harsh and unpredictable.

“Even if you see me as important to this future, don’t forget that you’re important to. If you need anything, just ask, Mirai. I’ll go to my room to sleep now. Goodnight. If you need anything, anything at all, just knock on my door. Farewell.” Eita said, standing up from his seat, and walking towards the dining hall doors. 

“Thank you.” Mirai said, just as Eita left the room.

Mirai stood up from her seat, the bruises of hers still slightly paining her, even after Eita’s refreshing salad. She pushed in her chair, and walked towards the door as well. She immediately went to the dorms, and looked over at the signs on each individual door. Each door has the name of a specific student, and she could see names like Akiko, Hideki, Taeko, Tsubaki painted on the signs. She observed each door until she found Kagome’s room, with a dark red “Kagome” written on the door’s sign. Mirai knocked a few times, but was at first met with silence, so she knocked a few times once again. She kept knocking, refusing to give up. She partly worried that something already happened to Kagome, but after a few more minutes of knocking, the door finally opened, with a tear-stained Kagome standing there.

“K-Kagome? What… what happened?” Mirai asked, partly worried that Kagome saw something horrifying, like the death of a friend. “You were crying, weren’t you?”

“It’s… it’s nothing.” Kagome said, looking away and sniffing. Her tears had yet to completely fade, as Kagome wiped her eyes. “What did you want me for?”

“I… wanted to check if you were alright, Kagome. I was hurt when you ran away, and I just wanted to make certain that you were safe.” Mirai said, pulling out a Monopad that belonged to Kagome. “I also had to give this to you. It’s a… helpful device Monokuma gave us, that shows things like a map of the school, or information about other students.”

“Mirai…” Kagome let out, her arms wrapped around herself. She took the Monopad, and resumed her last positioning of her arms. “Thank you, I suppose… I need to go, though… It’d be best if we just sleep.” 

“But…” Mirai emitted, holding her hand out to touch Kagome’s shoulder. Kagome looked away and closed her eyes.

“Mirai, I’m not special. I’m worthless to this world.” Kagome admitted, tears starting to form in her eyes once again. “You have to stop relying on fate so much. It’ll mislead you, and break your heart. It’s unpredictable, Mirai.”

“Kagome…” Mirai responded, feeling extremely hurt from Kagome’s words about fate. “It has always lead me to success, my dreams-“

“They aren’t real, Mirai! Don’t you realize that?” Kagome said, tears now streaming down her face.

“They are real, Kagome! I thought you were special, but if you don’t believe me, then you aren’t important to this future at all!” Mirai yelled out, her hands now forming fists. Kagome looked shocked and hurt, but then smiled sadly. 

“So… you realize that somebody you just met is worthless to you. I’m glad I made you figure it out… Goodbye, Mirai…” Kagome said, walking away a bit, and about to close her door. Mirai then realized what she said, and immediately wanted to take it back.

“Kagome, I didn’t mean-“ Mirai was interrupted by the door shutting in her face, and a loud noise signifying that it was completely shut. “It…”

Mirai went back to her dorm room, and questioned everything about the experience she had with Kagome. Kagome was certainly special, but if she was, why did she say those things? Mirai felt conflicted because of Kagome’s words, questioning if everything was really all in her head. The questions wandered her mind endlessly, relentlessly crashing and coalescing, forming new ideas and thoughts, until Mirai felt nothing but confusion. 

In the midst of all her thinking, she fell asleep,


	3. Chapter One Part One

Mirai started to run. 

“Wait!” Kagome yelled as Mirai led Kagome out of the garden, and into the halls. The gym was right nearby, just down the hallway. Mirai didn’t let Kagome finish, as she charged down the hall, holding Kagome’s hand. Mirai found herself weaker than she expected, mainly due to mainly sitting around at home. She disregarded it. She ran until they both were at the large gym doors, meticulously decorated with swirls and curves, painted in a vibrant red. Mirai pushed open the door slightly, and everyone was already there, loud chatter being heard from the crowd, and amongst all the chaotic talking, Haruka was standing on the stage, about to speak. Mirai slowly walked in, leading Kagome as well.

“Everyone, everyone! Attention, please!” Haruka yelled to the small crowd of students, raising her arms in the air and tapping her foot. Mirai chuckled, as did Kagome, at Haruka’s behavior. “We’re all trapped here, if you didn’t see. We need to stop chatting and talk about what we’ve all found out, before that stupid bear randomly appears again!”

“Well, you can talk later, miss Miyawaki, but right now, it’s my time to gloriously shine in the spotlight of despair!” A mysterious voice yelled out, as a shining sphere of illumination started to fade in, showing up on the stage.

“Ah!” Haruka screamed, being pushed back and running off the stage, afraid as to what the light was, and going back to Kishiko. Finally, the light started to fade, and in it’s place was a bear, his two colors of black and white being split right in the middle, and a shining red eye on his dark side. The bear cackled and raised his arms, waving towards the students, as if welcoming them. Mirai felt particularly curious, but also knew that the experience was one that was meant to be.

“Welcome, my students! I am Monokuma, your wonderful headmaster for this semester of despair!” Monokuma yelled out to the crowd of students, his voice especially childish and enthusiastic. Mirai smiled at the strangeness, curious of what was to happen, because of her not seeing anything about this within her dreams.

“What are you, exactly, ‘Monokuma’? You seem like a pretty advanced AI thus far with a clear personality, if you are not being controlled by anyone.” Eita spoke, walking closer to the stage, looking directly towards the robotic bear.

“An AI? More like a stuffed animal! What kind of shitty prank is this?” Kaoru yelled out, rolling her eyes and tapping her foot impatiently.

“A stuffed animal? He’s obviously a robot or something like that. Stuffed animals don’t talk, you idiotic bitch! Have you been watching too many movies? He’s obviously an artificial intelligence. Not like some Snake Milker or whatever your talent is will get that.” Kishiko yelled, charging towards Kaoru.

“She’s no use, Kishiko. Just another idiot, unlike us. Right, Kishiko?” Haruka said, smiling a wide, unnerving smile as she jumped up and down. 

“I guess you’re right, shorty. Ha!” Kishiko laughed, and turned back towards Haruka, finishing the argument she started immediately.

“Hey, don’t start an argument with me and then be too much of a coward to finish it!” Kaoru yelled back, crossing her arms and growling. There was no response from Kishiko.

“Everyone, calm down and let Monokuma talk!” Eita yelled out to the crowd, turning his back to Monokuma.

“Mirai, this is… weird. Am I dreaming? What is this? Please tell me I’m not going insane…” Kagome said, her breathing growing heavy and unnatural, her body shaking violently. She looked down, and put her arms close to her chest. It was as if the world was shaking in her eyes. 

“Kagome? Are you alright?” Mirai put her face close to Kagome’s, and made sure her breathing was alright. She whispered to Kagome. “Calm down, it’s okay, it’s okay… This is just a strange work of fate! It’s nothing to be concerned about. Oh no, I’m not good at counseling or anything… I know how to read dreams, but not read people… I’m sorry, Kagome. Just know… you’re going to be alright. You’re safe. Someone so special can’t die yet!”

Monokuma stared directly at Mirai, “Safe? Everybody here is especially safe! This is a place of peace and harmony! Here, you’ll all live together in prosperity and fortune, for the rest of your lives! No fighting, no arguing, no entropy or discord! And especially no despair!”

“Wait, let me get this straight. Live. Here. Forever. That doesn’t sound right. Does that sound right?” Hideki asked, looking around at everybody in anticipation. Suddenly, he smiled, and pointed his finger up as if he figured everything out. “This must be a live performance, a live show! What a miraculous event! All of you did great thus far in order to trick us all!”

“Ah, a live show! Turquoise and I can collaborate to make an extraordinary art piece to show the entire world! It’ll be fantastic, wouldn’t it Turquoise? My gemstones and your abstract art, coalescing together to make a masterpiece to show the whole world!” Taeko said, hugging Tsubaki next to her.

“Of course, Taeko! Everything we make will be amazing with you helping! I feel so inspired when I’m with you!” Tsubaki said, hugging Taeko in return.

“Everybody, I don’t think this is a live show. I think Monokuma is being completely serious.” Eita stated, staring at everyone in the crowd, smiling and laughing as they thought the entire thing was a complete joke.

“Yes, that’s true. As if someone would kidnap us just to show us a live show. All of you must be idiotic. Perhaps the perpetrator is lowering our guard with this… bear.” Ryo said from the wall he leaned on, seeming rather collected. 

“It is certainly perplexing… An artificial intelligence kidnapping all of these individuals, just for the motive of providing them a small space they must occupy, in which they must thrive together in perfect concord in said environment. It is inexplicable and unfathomable. They require another intention in order to make logical sense.” Sora explained, walking in a circle as he spoke.

“We’re… all hostages! We’re all going to die! We’re all meant to die!” Ritsu yelled, throwing his hands over his head and running to the corner of the room, beginning to cower and hide.

“Ah, a beauty such as yourself shouldn’t be worrying so much, Ritsu. We’re all not going to perish in here, so don’t worry.” Hideyoshi said, running towards the fearful harpist and putting his hands on Ritsu’s shoulders.

“Get away from me!” Ritsu yelled anxiously, pushing Hideyoshi aside and knocking him to the floor. 

“Mirai… what if… what if Ritsu’s right? What if we’re all going to die here? I deserve it… but nobody else here deserves such a fate…” Kagome still said, in between her heavy breaths, still extremely worried and anxious as she didn’t want to see what would happen next.

“Kagome… It’s alright… You don’t deserve it, either. You haven’t done anything wrong, have you? Fate’s only cruel to those who deserve it.” Mirai held Kagome as much as she could, trying to support her new friend as much as she could.

Mirai didn’t say much, standing still next Kagome, who seemed to slowly be calming down. The keyword was slowly, as Mirai barely felt a difference as she supported Kagome’s weight. She could hear the voices of everyone she had met so far arguing over the bear. It didn’t really matter whether Mirai spoke up or not. Fate would find itself without her.

“Ah, already so much despair and hatred floating around! Well, I’ll tell you, that Eita boy is correct! This isn’t a joke! You all are trapped here for the rest of your lives! However, there is an exception to this rule…” Monokuma then paused forebodingly, in order to add tension to his words. “Murder…” 

Everyone had completely different reactions. Some were unnaturally overjoyed and excited, some were frightened, and some were indifferent. The tension grew, as the game finally began. In all of the silence, the enthusiastic Haruka spoke first.

“Murder? Oooh, this is so exciting! Isn’t it, Kishiko?” Haruka jumped up and down, clapping her hands at Monokuma’s announcement. “I’ve been so used to murder and death! My clients all whine about so much dying, that death is basically a common topic for me by now!” 

“Ah, I know murder all too well! Even though I’ve never personally committed it, it’s all too common an experience in a criminal’s life. It certainly is exciting.” Kishiko agreed, putting her hands on her hips.

“Are… are you kidding me? Murder? You must be kidding, right? I can’t die yet!” Akiko yelled out, touching her face and hitting the ground. “Please, not yet!”

“Ah, death. A topic I’m… not familiar with, but am indifferent about.” Hibiki said, his words simple and short.

“Why aren’t you all worried about this?!” Taeko yelled out, hugging Tsubaki tightly. “Aren’t you afraid to lose your lives?! I would be shattered if my precious gems were taken from me… I love hearing their beautiful voices and thoughts… I can’t live without them, and they can’t live without me! Don’t you feel the same about your loved ones?!”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to lose Taeko! I’ve… lost so many already!” Tsubaki yelled out, hanging her head down. She was silent for a moment.

“Some of you people are crazy! Why are you indifferent, or even excited, about something like death?! I don’t wanna die, I don’t want to die!” Ritsu screamed out, still hiding in the corner of the room, protecting himself with his arms. 

“Mirai… I… need to go…” Kagome whispered, feeling dizzy and anxious about everything. She anticipated the worst, and wanted to be alone during all the chaos. Before Mirai could say anything, Kagome ran off out of the doors of the gym. 

“Kagome…” Mirai reached her hand out to the open doors, seeing Kagome run down the hall, and out of sight. She felt hopeless right then, seeing the girl run out of the door, without giving Mirai a chance. It hit Mirai hard, even if she just met Kagome. She felt strongly, which was a rare occurrence in her life. Kagome obviously needed somebody at that moment, but Kagome rejected Mirai’s help. She supposed… it was fate.

“Monokuma, may I have the pleasure of your elaboration on the subject of murder? There must be a catch to such conditions, so more detail on such matters would be appreciated by us all.” Sora asked, walking up to the stage, his arms behind his back. 

“Oh, yes you may!” Monokuma yelled out in response, waving his arms in anticipation. He stood up straight, and began to speak. “If you disrupt the glorious harmony in this school, by pursuing something such as murder, you’ll have to be taken out of the school… as in, graduate. However, murder is simply not enough. You’ll also have to survive a class trial!”

“A class trial? Is that a little argument game or something? Ridiculous!” Kaoru yelled, raising her fists, as if threatening to punch Monokuma for his foolishness.

“Shut it, fool. Your mannerisms are reckless, and you will most likely suffer for such speech towards our ‘headmaster’ here.” Sora spoke, running towards Kaoru and pulling her back.

“Each student has the chance to debate and discuss about whomever killed their precious acquaintance! Converse about the many clues laid out for you, and figure out the killer! They will vote for who they think killed their glorious victim.” Monokuma then laughed maniacally, his red eye glowing ominously. “However, if the killer evades them, then the culprit shall go free, and all students shall be punished for getting it wrong! On the other hand, if the students vote correctly, then only the killer gets punished! And what does punishment mean? It means… death!” 

“Death…? Death?!” Eita yelled, his usually calmly manner fading. “I won’t let you hurt anybody here, Monokuma! Your ridiculous shenanigans are over, stupid bear! I was calm up until now, but threatening us with something as serious as death?”

“Fool! Your mannerisms are exactly like Kaoru’s, impulsive and arrogant! Stop being naive, and shut it, before your life is at risk!” Sora yelled angrily, still holding back Kaoru.

“Let us take him! He’s just a ridiculous stuffed animal, not a master criminal!” Kaoru yelled, pushing Sora away, and raising her fist towards the sky. “Let’s go, Eita!”

Mirai, still in the back of the room comprehending Kagome’s actions, didn’t say anything. Fate would take it’s path, whether people were meant to live or not. She took no action, and was stationary, staring at the stage where Monokuma continued to laugh maniacally. That was until she realized she could control fate right then. She ran towards the stage before Kaoru and Eita could reach the stage, and put her arms out in front of Monokuma, protecting him. This was her chance to make her fate her own, to affect the future in some way. Monokuma obviously wasn’t joking, even in his strange, bear-like form. His ominous chuckling was proof of that. Sora was right, and they couldn’t risk impulsiveness. 

“No! Don’t kill yourselves just because of some petty vengeance! Don’t let your destiny end here! You’re all destined for something much greater than dying at the hands of this fiend!” Mirai shouted, looking around from person to person as she spoke loudly.

“Oh, you’re certainly the brave one, student! Puhuhu!” Monokuma laughed. “You’re certainly brave to stand up against a bunch of heartless, rash people who want to destroy poor old me!”

“Poor?!” Akiko yelled. “You’re the freak who kidnapped us!” 

“Blah blah blah. Stop complaining. Your obsession with symmetrical figures is idiotic, and so is your reaction. We’ll all die. So what?” Ryo said, waving his hand around as he spoke.

“Personally, I find this exciting!” Haruka exclaimed, waving her hands in the air as she twirled. “I mean, a death game? Who wouldn’t be obsessed with something with emotions and betrayal? It’s a game to win, and we must play!”

“You’re certainly enthusiastic about this, ghost girl. I like you.” Kishiko said, standing next to Haruka and putting her hand on Haruka’s shoulder.

“Of course! I’m the ultimate Spiritual Communicator! Of course I would be excited for something that calls for my abilities!” Haruka yelled, jumping so much that her purple hat was close to falling off.

“Foolish! All of you are foolish!” Eita yelled. “Mirai, why are you defending him? I don’t care if I die, or if people who want death die, but everyone who wants to live deserves to survive!” 

Mirai was about to answer, but a force suddenly threw her off the stage. One second, she stood there proudly, albeit hesitant and afraid, but the next second, she was pushed off the stage with a loud, forceful gust of air. Monokuma chuckled, and Mirai’s body hit the ground.

“Mirai!” Eita yelled, running up to Mirai and making certain she was okay. Mirai coughed, and put her hand on her head, her body now excruciatingly pained from the landing on to the ground. 

“I-I’m alright. I just… need some time… to heal. I thankfully… didn’t land on my head.” Mirai said, barely able to speak as she comprehended what had just occurred.

“Puhuhu! Be aware, this is not just a game! This is life or death! If you were to attack me… even more disastrous things would happen than simply being pushed off a simple stage… such as… explosions! Stabbing! Bludgeoning! Bone shattering! Anything can happen, because I am in complete control! Fear me, peasants, for I am the great god, Super Monokuma!” Monokuma yelled out, extending his arms to the crowd while sarcastically pretending to show off his muscles.

“Your attempt to be threatening is… childish.” Ryo muttered, completely unfazed by Monokuma’s antics.

“Whatever you say! Just know, I am not to be played with!” Monokuma said, putting his paws on his hips while standing proudly. “Now, farewell, my students! I also have a parting gift for you! These are called Monopads!”

Monokuma proceeded to throw sixteen tablet-like objects at all of the students, every one of the students catching their assigned Monopad, except with Mirai catching both hers and Kagome. Mirai was reminded to find Kagome afterwards and tell her what had occurred. 

“These hold every detail about the school, including information about other students, a map system, and school rules! Be sure to follow these rules perfectly, or else, you might be punished by death! Be sure not to break these, as they are very important to your school life here! Puhuhu! Now, goodbye!” Monokuma yelled, just before disappearing behind the stage. 

“Alright, so now what do we do?! There’s some sort of crazed robotic bear that kidnapped us, and we have no way to get out of here, besides murdering an innocent person! How do we get out of this?!” Akiko yelled out, hiding her tears as she screamed.

“I don’t want death! I can’t die so soon! I don’t want Taeko to die either!” Tsubaki said, hugging Taeko as tightly as she could.

“Don’t worry! I’ll protect you Tsubaki! Hopefully…” Taeko said, patting Tsubaki’s back, with tears starting to form in her eyes.

“All of you are overreacting. I’ve dealt with so many worse things, you wouldn’t be able to comprehend what I’ve seen. Stop being such children, and grow up. People die, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Ryo said, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently.

“What about-“ Hideki was about to say, before he was interrupted.

“Everyone, shut up! Stop it with your talk of nonsense and focus on Mirai! Are all of you too selfish to see that she’s hurt!?” Eita said, holding Mirai’s head as her body was still on the floor, in pain. “We need to get her some food, as soon as possible! We don’t have access to medicine, so some fruit or something should work for now! Somebody help me carry her!”

“I’ll do it, Eita. Sorry for not doing anything earlier. I was too wrapped up in Mirai defending Monokuma that… I couldn’t see she was hurt.” Kaoru apologized, walking up to Eita and helping him in picking up Mirai’s body.

“Thank you…” Mirai said, her bones still aching from her fall. “I think I’ll try get up on my own, though?” She said, stumbling to stand up. 

“Alright…” Both Eita and Kaoru said, slowly letting Mirai on her feet.

Her feet wobbled, and Mirai almost fell once more. But after a minute or so of standing, she felt as if she’d be able to walk, even if it was incredibly slowly. She began to walk, and found that the pain grew more bearable as time went on, either from the pain dying down or getting more used to it. Mirai found that she wasn’t seriously injured, even if her body terribly hurt.

“If you need any help, just tell us! We’ll be right by your side!” Kaoru yelled happily, owning a bright smile.

“Hey! How about we split up? Some of us can go search the school in groups of three, for safety, and the rest can go to the dining hall with Eita, Mirai, and Kaoru! That’s a good idea, right? Yeah? Yeah! It’s a great idea, right from the magnificent, marvelous, miraculous Haruka’s mind!” Haruka said, jumping up and down, proud of her own idea. “Hey, Hey! Kishiko, Ryo! Let’s go search together! I like you two the most!” 

“Alright… Haruka, is it? I’ll join you. You seem alright, albeit a bit too over-enthusiastic, annoying, excruciating to listen to, etcetera. You seem to have befriended Kishiko, so I imagine she’s going to agree as well.” Ryo said, sighing as he explained Haruka’s flaws. Mirai thought he was slightly too harsh, but stayed silent, until it was her time to talk.

“Splitting up is…” Mirai said, pausing as a cough escaped her throat. “A… a good idea.” 

“Shorty’s right! Let’s split up. I’ll make the groups, so sit up straight, you bastards! There’s fifteen of us here, it appears, so this is gonna be like dodgeball. The one’s I don’t pick are the lonely outcasts, and the ones I do pick are the less unlikable ones. Prepare yourselves!” Kishiko yelled, putting her hands on her hips and standing up straight.

Kishiko picked everyone except the ones she disliked the most, leaving Taeko, Tsubaki, and Hideki to join Mirai, Eita, and Kaoru. Everyone else was split into groups of three to assure any possible murdered would be witnessed by somebody else, and ran out the gym door, while the rest of the group was left to walk to the dining hall. Mirai immediately sat down at one of the tables, adjusting herself until she was comfortable. Everyone surrounded her, making sure she was alright.

“It’d be absolutely horrid if your bones were shattered, or your skin was bruised any way! Are you alright, Moonstone? Emerald, is there anything you can do?” Taeko said, putting her hands on Mirai’s shoulders and observing Mirai’s face from both sides in order to check if she was alright. 

“I can’t do much, Taeko. I’m a bike courier, not a nurse…But the least I can do is cook Mirai something. I’m going to the kitchen, to make a fruit salad. Tell me if you need anything!” Eita said, then walking off towards the kitchen, before Kaoru stopped him.

“Hey, how about you cook something for all of us? I can’t remember the last time I ate!” Kaoru yelled out to Eita, walking closer to him.

“Sure, Kaoru. How about you guard the door, in case if anyone finds any important news or details and needs to tell us as soon possible? It’s a job fit for somebody like you.” Eita said, smiling brightly, chuckling a bit.

“Of course! See you guys! I’ll be outside the door!” Kaoru said, then moving away from everyone. Eita moved away as well.

“Mirai, do you have any bruises or broken bones? Are you okay?” Hideki said, sitting next to Mirai, his brows rising as a worried look embellished his face.

“It would hurt much more if it were my bones that were broken. As for bruises, I’m not sure how many I got, actually. My legs are covered in bruises from the fall, I suppose. I grabbed one of my legs when I was wobbling, and it only made my pain worse, so it must be bruises causing that.”

“Turquoise, what do you think? You haven’t said anything ever since I asked Mirai if she was okay.” Taeko said, going to the silent Tsubaki.

“Oh! I was just draining out most of everything other than you, and I kind of spaced out! Y’now that feeling!” Tsubaki smiled, poking herself like she was trying to bring herself back to the real world. “As for my thoughts, well, I don’t have much, other than thinking about when I should put aside time to create an art piece for you!”

“Turquoise… we should focus on Mirai right now. It’s very kind of you to focus on me, but we need to comfort Mirai when she’s in need.” Taeko said, putting her hands on Tsubaki’s shoulders 

“Ah, um… yeah! Okay! All words you say are commandments in my mind, after all!” Tsubaki turned away from Taeko, and then her eyes met Mirai’s. “Are you okay? How badly were you hurt? Should I get you something?” She asked, without her usual passion but rather an extremely forced concerned expression as she leaned forward to Mirai.

“No, you don’t have to force yourself to care…” Mirai responded, noticing Tsubaki’s obvious abhorrence to her forced response of concern. Tsubaki paused, placing her hand over her mouth and thinking.

Tsubaki then asked: “Mirai… are you in need?” She seemed like she really wanted a certain answer. Mirai smiled.

“I’m... not.” Mirai said softly, mainly for Tsubaki’s sake. At hearing her words, Tsubaki’s regular grin returned to her face as she stopped making the forced concerned expression. 

“So you aren’t in need! Perfect!” Tsubaki shouted happily as she went back to Taeko’s side. 

“Hey, Everyone! I’ve made a quick salad for Mirai… It isn’t much, but it is the best I can do in a quick time frame.” Eita yelled out, walking out of the kitchen, carrying a small salad.

“Woah! That was fast! You must be an incredible chef!” Hideki said, looking at the small meal Eita prepared.

“It’s not the time to compliment me. We need to make certain that Mirai is safe. Here.” Eita said, putting the dish in front of Mirai. 

“Thank you, Eita. It looks delicious.” Mirai replies. She took a fork, and put in the salad, grabbing as much food she could. She ate it, and felt her energy being restored immediately, her bones’ pain fading slowly but surely. “This… this is amazing. Thank you so much, Eita.”

“It’s no problem at all. I just want to make sure you’re safe after… what Monokuma did to you…” Eita said, mumbling something under his breath afterwards. “That bastard.”

“I’m fine, Eita. It’s like fate that I’ve met you.” Mirai said happily, smiling as she finished the small amounts of salad she had left.

“Fate, huh? You’re strange, Mirai. Wait…” Eita said, tapping his chin lightly. “I have an idea!”

“Oh, what is your idea, Emerald? We’d like to know! Wouldn’t you, Tsubaki?” Taeko said, poking Tsubaki on the cheek.

“Anything you say, my dear Taeko. So, what is your idea, ‘Emerald’?” Tsubaki said, smiling as she poked Taeko on the shoulder. Mirai slightly laughed at the two’s behavior.

“Um… alright. Let’s get back on topic, you two.” Eita responded, slightly unnerved by Tsubaki’s behavior. “How about we meet up here every morning, in the Dining Hall? It’s a large room, and we can eat breakfast here every morning as we talk and strategize about what to do. If everyone comes to the morning meetings, we can keep track of who’s here and who’s not. It’ll make us one step closer to stopping Monokuma!” 

“It is fate! Amazing idea, Eita!” Mirai said, cupping her hands together while she smiled brightly. It was a perfect idea to her, one that made her truly believe it was fate she met Eita. Tsubaki rolled her eyes, while Taeko jumped up and down at the idea.

“I volunteer to tell everyone about it! I visited Kishiko and Haruka, and they found dorm rooms specifically for all of us. They must have told everyone else about it as well! I’m sure everyone will go back to their rooms soon, so I can tell them after we leave! How about that? Since they searched the rooms, they are able to tell us what they found at the morning meetings!” Hideki said excitedly, happy to be of some use to everyone around him.

“You’re certainly joyful, huh? That’s good! A nice contrast to the dark and mysterious cluster of people here!” Eita said, putting his hands on hips as he laughed.

“See you, everyone! I’ll go find everyone in there rooms! All of you should go to your rooms as well! I’ll tell Kaoru about the news as well! Farewell!” Hideki said, waving goodbye and walking out the door.Soon, everyone left the dining hall one by one to go to their assigned rooms, until Mirai and Eita were left.

“Mirai, are you sure you’re okay enough to walk to your room alone?” Eita asked, sitting next to Mirai in the mostly-empty table.

“Yeah…” Mirai said, sighing as she remembered what she had to do. “I also have to see somebody.”

“Who?” Eita asked, raising his brows in curiousity. 

“A girl I met in the garden. She came with me to the gym, but left early during Monokuma’s announcement. I need to give her the Monopad she is supposed to own.” Mirai said, pulling out Kagome’s Monopad that she caught earlier.

“Alright… Just stay safe. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” Eita replied, putting his hand on Mirai’s shoulder.

“I’ll be careful. Thank you, Eita. You should sleep, and prepare for tomorrow’s morning meeting. After all, you’re like the destined leader of all of us.” Mirai said, smiling sadly, knowing that fate’s path can be harsh and unpredictable.

“Even if you see me as important to this future, don’t forget that you’re important to. If you need anything, just ask, Mirai. I’ll go to my room to sleep now. Goodnight. If you need anything, anything at all, just knock on my door. Farewell.” Eita said, standing up from his seat, and walking towards the dining hall doors. 

“Thank you.” Mirai said, just as Eita left the room.

Mirai stood up from her seat, the bruises of hers still slightly paining her, even after Eita’s refreshing salad. She pushed in her chair, and walked towards the door as well. She immediately went to the dorms, and looked over at the signs on each individual door. Each door has the name of a specific student, and she could see names like Akiko, Hideki, Taeko, Tsubaki painted on the signs. She observed each door until she found Kagome’s room, with a dark red “Kagome” written on the door’s sign. Mirai knocked a few times, but was at first met with silence, so she knocked a few times once again. She kept knocking, refusing to give up. She partly worried that something already happened to Kagome, but after a few more minutes of knocking, the door finally opened, with a tear-stained Kagome standing there.

“K-Kagome? What… what happened?” Mirai asked, partly worried that Kagome saw something horrifying, like the death of a friend. “You were crying, weren’t you?”

“It’s… it’s nothing.” Kagome said, looking away and sniffing. Her tears had yet to completely fade, as Kagome wiped her eyes. “What did you want me for?”

“I… wanted to check if you were alright, Kagome. I was hurt when you ran away, and I just wanted to make certain that you were safe.” Mirai said, pulling out a Monopad that belonged to Kagome. “I also had to give this to you. It’s a… helpful device Monokuma gave us, that shows things like a map of the school, or information about other students.”

“Mirai…” Kagome let out, her arms wrapped around herself. She took the Monopad, and resumed her last positioning of her arms. “Thank you, I suppose… I need to go, though… It’d be best if we just sleep.” 

“But…” Mirai emitted, holding her hand out to touch Kagome’s shoulder. Kagome looked away and closed her eyes.

“Mirai, I’m not special. I’m worthless to this world.” Kagome admitted, tears starting to form in her eyes once again. “You have to stop relying on fate so much. It’ll mislead you, and break your heart. It’s unpredictable, Mirai.”

“Kagome…” Mirai responded, feeling extremely hurt from Kagome’s words about fate. “It has always lead me to success, my dreams-“

“They aren’t real, Mirai! Don’t you realize that?” Kagome said, tears now streaming down her face.

“They are real, Kagome! I thought you were special, but if you don’t believe me, then you aren’t important to this future at all!” Mirai yelled out, her hands now forming fists. Kagome looked shocked and hurt, but then smiled sadly. 

“So… you realize that somebody you just met is worthless to you. I’m glad I made you figure it out… Goodbye, Mirai…” Kagome said, walking away a bit, and about to close her door. Mirai then realized what she said, and immediately wanted to take it back.

“Kagome, I didn’t mean-“ Mirai was interrupted by the door shutting in her face, and a loud noise signifying that it was completely shut. “It…”

Mirai went back to her dorm room, and questioned everything about the experience she had with Kagome. Kagome was certainly special, but if she was, why did she say those things? Mirai felt conflicted because of Kagome’s words, questioning if everything was really all in her head. The questions wandered her mind endlessly, relentlessly crashing and coalescing, forming new ideas and thoughts, until Mirai felt nothing but confusion. 

In the midst of all her thinking, she fell asleep,


	4. Chapter One Part Two

“Hello, hello, my students!” Monokuma loudly greeted as as his face appeared on the monitor, his voice cheerful and childish as ever. “It is a wonderful time today! I have a surprise for you all! A miraculous gift that you all deserve all so very much, because you’re all so independent, creative, intuitive, unique, and talented! Now, for your special surprise… go to the gym immediately!” 

“Huh…?” Emitted a tired, sleepy Mirai, still thinking about her events with Kaoru and Akiko the day prior. She greatly enjoyed her time with the two girls, and would hope to enjoy even more time with them in the later days. Her thoughts also wandered to Eita’s invitation. Was it fate that she found a group of people that small was fond of so fast? It must be fate, because she didn’t believe in coincidences like that. 

She then remembered what Monokuma said minutes before, and got out of bed, stretching as she did so. Her muscles were sore from sleeping in an uncomfortable position the night before, so she stretched as much as she could to rid of the pain. Mirai headed to the bathroom, and quickly prepared herself for the day by changing her uniform to an identical one, brushing her teeth, and washed her hair. She made certain that she was well enough in her appearance to be in front of other people, and walked out of the bathroom. She headed out the door, and let fate lead her to the gym.

“Oh, the miraculous Mirai! Just the person I was waiting for!” Haruka gushed, just as Mirai entered the doors. “Your beautiful soul was just what we needed! There was such dramatic tension in here!”

“What are you talking about, shorty? We’re the only ones here besides that quiet girl.” Kishiko said, crossing her arms as she pointed to the quiet Kagome hiding in the corner of the room. Mirai contemplated approaching the girl, but decided to leave her alone.

“That’s the dramatic tension I was talking about! She’s so mysterious and silent that once everybody shows up, she’ll be blamed for being the mastermind once again! Then Eita will have to calm us down again!” Haruka explained, forming a false shocker expression on her face. “Gasp! It’s an endless cycle! Oh no!”

“I guess you’re right, miss witch.” Kishiko said, smiling gently. “You’re the one person here I can deal with. Thanks for being you, ghost girl.”

“Ghost girl, shorty, miss witch? I can’t believe you’ve given me such great nicknames! It’s the first time in forever!” Haruka exclaimed, jumping up and down happily while waving her cape around.

“Ha! You two will be a handful, but it was a miraculous work of fate to bring you together! You two seem to be compatible, aren’t you?” Mirai concluded, cupping her hands together at the two people getting along well.

“Well, she was the first person I spoke to! The ghosts of her past victims told me she’s great!” Haruka shouted, acknowledging Mirai again.

“I don’t think so, shorty. You may be a spiritual communicator or whatever, but your little talent can’t actually make you speak to ghosts. Stop being delusional, ghost girl.” Kishiko replied, rolling her eyes at Haruka’s attitude.

“I’m not delusional! You’re just a poor soul who doesn’t believe! I’ll show you the truth someday!” Haruka declared, forming fists to her side.

“Sure…” Kishiko murmured, a smile on her face as a small chuckle escaped her lips.

The next few minutes were spent in silence as the few people in the gym waited for more people to arrive, and soon, the entirety of the sixteen students were in the gym. Once everybody entered the gym, that was the cue for Monokuma to arrive.

“Welcome to a special announcement, my students! I, the superfluously wonderful Monokuma, have prepared a special thing for you all!” Monokuma laughed, menacing as he begun his announcement. “As you know, nobody has murdered yet, so I had to do something about it… I had to give you all a motive! A special something that can push you, that can pressure you, to commit a horrible act… the unforgivable act of murder!” 

“A motive…? Please elaborate, Monokuma. What is this motive you have prepared for us?” Sora questioned calmly, putting his hands behind his back and standing straight without an ounce of fear in his bones. “Is it related to the trait of greed? Is it reminiscent of family or friends being in the threat of danger? There are many possibilities to this.”

“Ah, Yes! Many possibilities, you are right!” Monokuma agreed, while laughing loudly. “In this particular motive… you will be forced to kill, because you have a time limit before I punish somebody and kill them myself! Every day there is no murder from now on, an innocent soul will be punished with the many threats I have prepared around the school.” 

“What?! Y-you will kill one of us on your own if we don’t kill?” Osamu stammered, completely frightened and afraid of what was to come, his body shaking immensely.

“You can’t! That’s, that’s monstrous!” Akiko shouted, pointing her finger at Monokuma as sweat came down her face.

“Then, think of me as a monster! Like I’d care, Puhuhu!” Monokuma chuckled, mocking that student who insulted him. Monokuma turned to leave, but just before doing so, he said, “Farewell, my students! Be sure to talk this over, and find out what you’re going to do!” 

“So, morning meeting? I expect you still want us all to go. As if it’ll help at all.” Ryo mumbled, immediately after Monokuma left, turning to Eita, who sat shocked as he stood beside him.

“Y-yeah… Everyone, let’s go to the morning meeting! We can talk about… what to do there.” Eita agreed, still comprehending the threatening motive that was given.

“Such beautiful minds don’t deserve such cruel treatment… I trust that none of you will murder, but… this motive...” Hideyoshi stammered, looking around at everyone, while frightfully hiding his own face. 

“This is all just a show, right…? Just a performance… Just a show… Just a show… Just. A. Show.” Hideki babbled, smiling nervously while sweat dripped down his face.

“This is so, so stupid… I just want to survive! I just want to play music again! I just want to leave!” Ritsu yelled, pulling his hair as he shouted, tears starting to form in his eyes.

“Everyone, calm down! None of us are going to die! Let’s all start the morning meeting as planned, and talk about this new motive with calm, open minds! We can fight this if we try harder!” Kaoru reassured, raising her fist in the air.

“Yes! Let us go! We must keep up our group of friendship and teamwork, despite the issues that have arisen!” Taeko said happily, not affected by the threatening motive.

“Good for you, being so positive! Come on, everyone! Let’s go’s to the dining hall!” Kaoru said, complimenting Taeko’s positively as she thumbs-upped Taeko. After that, everyone headed to the dining hall one after the other, all hesitant but still going forward due to Kaoru’s supportive words.

“So… what are we supposed to do?” Hibiki asked, as everyone else was stuck in complete silence as they entered, not knowing what to talk about.

“We’re supposed to fight Monokuma!” Kaoru said, holding her fist in the air.

“B-but how? He has weapons at his disposal! The most we have is a kitchen knife or a poison, both which are not effective on a robot!” Ritsu said nervously, fidgeting with his hands as he looked around at everyone suspiciously.

“Well, do we have anybody experienced in technology…? Perhaps somebody can disable him, and disable all the cameras he placed!” Eita said, proudly standing, just before he realized something. “Ugh… Hibiki is the only one with any sort of experience in technology, but he’s only experienced with noise! What are we going to do?”

“One of us must be planning this whole thing!” Akiko said, pointing a finger in the air as she had an idea. “We just need to figure out who they are!”

“What teenager would do something like this? Your reasoning and logic are child-like!” Tsubaki replied in her usual bubbly manner, rolling her eyes at the ocularist. It felt all the more dismissive when placed together with her cheerful nature.

“Hey, I wouldn’t have become a professional oculatist at my age if I knew nothing!” Akiko yelled back, pointing her finger at Tsubaki. “What if you’re the mastermind behind this?! You’re just trying to push suspicion off yourself!”

“Turquoise would never do something like host a killing game!” Taeko yelled in reply, charging forward until she was face-to-face with Akiko. “What if you’re the true manipulator behind this game? You haven’t said much, besides only caring about yourself!” 

“I know the truth! All of you are in on this, and just want to control me, to manipulate me!” Ritsu yelled, blaming everyone recklessly.

“There have been teenagers who’ve done things along these lines. I don’t see how it’d be odd if one of us were the mastermind…” Ryo said wistfully, as if teasing the others. He was mainly ignored.

“I know I’m not the mastermind! I’m not cruel or twisted like that bear! I hate death!” Akiko said, pointing her finger at Ritsu. “And you’re always blaming everyone! What if you’re the one behind all of this?!” 

“Stop!” Kaoru yelled, banging one fist on a table to end the useless bickering. “Distrust isn’t getting us anywhere!”

“Yeah, it isn’t! Don’t you remember what we said yesterday? To go against Monokuma is to build bonds with each other, and to work together!” Eita agreed, placing one hand on the table and raising one fist in the air as he looked at everyone around him.

“I… have an idea.” A soft, barely audible voice said. Everyone turned around, and saw a determined-looking Kagome standing proudly, her eyes focused and her stance straight and tall. “We can’t build bonds if one of us dies tomorrow, and the next day. So I have something to propose. I will be the first victim. I need one of you to volunteer to kill me, though.”

“Wait… Kagome…?” Mirai said, staying silent the entire time, waiting for a moment to try and calm everyone down, except when Kagome volunteered to be killed. “Why would you want to be killed…?”

“I would rather be killed than let any of you die.” Kagome said plainly.

“We can’t let you die! Nobody here will die!” Eita replied, walking towards Kagome, and taking her hands. “You’re important, too. Don’t think any less.”

“Thank you, but… nobody here should have to die tomorrow. So, one of you kill me, and sacrifice yourselves as well. I’m not afraid of death.” Kagome said, shaking Eita’s hands off her own. 

“That’s a reckless thing to do, to make yourself an easy target…” Ryo stated, crossing his arms. “Are you sure you want to do such a thing? One of us could really kill you, after all.” 

“I’m sure.” Kagome said, proudly crossing her arms as well.

“Alright, go ahead and die. I won’t stop you!” Kishiko said, a rough laugh escaping her lips.

“Nonsense! Nobody will die! We’ll find another way!” Eita yelled, slamming his hands on the table.

“Let’s end this morning meeting! We’ll talk more tomorrow. Everyone, do as we said yesterday! Bond with each other, and work together! We’ll find out a way to stop this if we just do as we planned!” Kaoru yelled, slamming her fists on the table as well.

“Alright…” Mirai responded, looking down as she tried to comprehend everything. She was rendered speechless by Kagome’s words. The girl almost found herself reaching out to Kagome to talk to her about her suggestion, but found herself stopping herself. Was this really fate? It must be. Everything would work out. Everyone but a few people soon left, going in separate directions to converse with one another. Mirai looked over, and saw Tsubaki leaving the room, for once, without Taeko. She decided to follow her out of instinct, curious about the Ultimate Abstract Artist, who walked into her room.

“Tsubaki! May I spend time with you?” Mirai asked, slowly waving at the girl. Tsubaki didn’t return the wave.

“You sure you want to spend your precious day with me?” Tsubaki asked in an upbeat voice. Her hands were positioned oddly enough, on her head, and the shape created was triangles connected to a circle which was her head. “Why not spend it with one of your friends?” She asked, grabbing a paintbrush and throwing it at Mirai, anyways.

Mirai caught it easily, and begun playing with the bristles. It was incredibly high quality. She could feel each of the bristles brushing against her fingertips. She closed her eyes, briefly feeling her mind drift off to Kagome. She erased the thoughts, focusing on Tsubaki and where fate had taken her. “Ah, I just feel as if fate brought me here…” 

“You can think all that fate nonsense, but just know that I’m Taeko’s for the meanwhile! No one’s stealing me away from her!” Tsubaki said as she laughed. She patted her black apron down and opened a small paint tube of red paint. “Anyways, if you’re gonna spend the time I could be spending with my dearest, you better help me make art!”

She stared at Tsubaki for a few seconds, trying to figure out if she really had to. Mirai had never been an incredibly artistic person, even if she enjoyed studying it. It seemed she had to. Tsubaki showed Mirai a few colors, and she settled on a dark shade of red which Tsubaki was mixing. The particular shade of crimson reminded her of Kagome. 

Tsubaki took her gloves off, throwing them to the floor as she lathered some paint over her fingers and strangely enough, began fingerpainting. Her long hair began moving about due to her strong movements and over exaggerated steps. It was incredibly obvious as Tsubaki’s work, somehow, as it showed a level of chaos and splatter that Mirai’s hands, or rather any hands wouldn’t have created. “You just gotta let loose and go at the canvas with everything you’ve got! That’s the fun of it! Since you’re an amateur, why not try closing your eyes? That always makes people loosen up, y’now!”

Mirai took her brush and closed her eyes, finding the paint from touch rather than sight. She wasn’t sure what color she began throwing at the canvas, but she knew exactly where the brush was going. It traveled up and down the canvas in big, strong strokes of multiple colors that Tsubaki supplied her whenever Mirai asked for such. 

“This is quite fun. The feeling of fate leading my hands through the canvas is enthralling.” She told Tsubaki as she mixed colors. The girl didn’t even know if she was mixing different colors.

“Wow! You’re surprisingly great at this! I suppose it’s the mindset. People like Sora will never understand it. Of course, my beautiful Taeko understands it the best —“

Mirai cut her off with a question, as she painted what she supposed was her signature in the newly mixed color. It was a question which she had always wanted to ask other Ultimate students. “How did you realize your talent?” 

“Geez! You cut me off just as I was going to tell you how great Taeko is!” She paused, with her hands on her hips. Tsubaki’s eyes met Mirai’s in a short glare of frustration. “Anyways. You’re asking how I started painting?” Tsubaki asked, quickly going back to happiness, bouncing around the room as she thought.

With Mirai’s nod, Tsubaki immediately responded. “When I was little, I was an idiot! No Taeko, no anyone! I definitely didn’t have any interest in art, y’now! Why would I? I barely felt anything around everyone else! How can someone who doesn’t feel anything show their emotions in art?” She said, pointing to nowhere in particular. 

“Then, I met my best friend. She was so sweet, and we always spent our time together. Before school, after school, always. I was filled with an emotion that I could barely identify, and well, it was happiness! Friendship! All that!” 

The hyperactive girl began adding her own additions to the artwork, before using her fingers to open up Mirai’s eyes. “And then she moved!” She added, waving her pointer finger around in a circular motion. “Naturally, I was devastated! All I could do was try to cope, y’now? Singing, dancing, acting, simply screaming at a wall. Then I found art, and boom! It was all I was able to do. Painting, pencil, marker, everything! I actually did graffiti for a while, haha! I found my passion in what I do now! Soon, I had a tattoo of my world-famous logo inked on my arm!” 

“A lovely story.” Mirai chimed in as it ended, finally looking at the art piece, which was what Tsubaki made for a living. Art.

In front of her was a canvas with pieces of glued on paper, odd strands of doll hair, the imprints of fingerprints created by expensive paint, gem shards, some random paint by Mirai, and the odd calligraphy like scribbles that Tsubaki painted onto mainly the edges. Mirai’s “signature” was an unreadable scribble, and there was a sticker of all things on the side of the canvas. The only question that Mirai had was when she had added a sticker, of all things.

“Perfect, isn’t it? I’m always inspired when I’m creating things for people I love, after all!” She shouted, lastly scrawling “to Taeko” onto the canvas with black ink next to a lopsided black and pink heart which was her signature.

“It really is perfect!” Mirai replied happily, honestly feeling rather like the art piece was perfect. Fate had brought them to the painting that stood in front of them. “But isn’t your art known for constant ups and downs in your mental state? Why is that?”

“Oh, that! I tend to befriend a lot of people! They all seem to leave, and that’s the sadness. Some spikes are shorter because I only know them for a day or so. Don’t get the wrong idea, though! The passion is exactly the same, whoever I’m with!” Tsubaki grinned, taking a step back from the art piece and peering at it. She used her fingers to create a frame around the piece. 

“Is the emptiness the same, too?” Mirai asked, cocking her head to the side. 

“Obviously. Always passionate, that’s what I live for!” Tsubaki pointed at Mirai. “And you better up your passion, too! Take that as your reason for being here today!”

“Mhm… I’ll try…” Mirai said wistfully, staring at the finished art piece. “It sure is a nice piece.”

“Of course it is! Not as amazing as Taeko, but it’s a tribute to her. Do you expect me to give her something subpar?” Tsubaki grinned, her hands on her hips. “Anyways, goodbye. I’m gonna go join Taeko in whatever she’s doing.” She suddenly spoke in low energy, seeming to act much more calm. Perhaps it was because she was ending their encounter.

Mirai smiled lightly, waving her hand goodbye at Tsubaki as she stepped out of the door. Her cape fluttered as she walked. “Goodbye, Tsubaki.” 

Afterwards, Mirai looked around the school. She wandered around for a bit until she found herself back at the garden. Oddly, she felt as if something was dragging her there. Perhaps there was something about the garden that drew people there. Once she opened the door, she immediately saw Eita. Mirai smiled, stepping inside.

“Hey, Eita!” Mirai yelled out, waving to the green-haired boy. He was smelling roses, all of the individual roses having highly different scents and appearances. He was deeply focused on the roses, “What’re you doing today?”

“Oh, just observing these flowers. Even if I hate this place, the one place where I can feel calm is… here.” Eita said, moving towards another patch of purple flowers. Violets.

“I hate this place too. But destiny brought us here, so it’s meant to be. We’ll find our happiness soon. Look on the bright side. At least nobody’s died yet.” Mirai said, leaning down where Eita was sitting and joining him in observing the flowers.

“You’re right, I suppose. At least, for now. I don’t trust most people here. Heck, I don’t even trust myself. I might break under the pressure. I… can act on my impulse sometimes. Especially when I’m frightened, like the time I almost attacked Monokuma.” Eita said, sighing as he reminisced on the time he could have almost been punished by death. 

“I’m glad I made that decision, and decided to control fate on my own for once. I needed to do that… or somebody might have gotten hurt. I don’t want any of you to get hurt. You’re all important to this future. Especially you and Kagome.” Mirai said, feeling the grass below her, damp and soft, as if they were just watered by a sprinkler.

“Kagome? She’s certainly mysterious, but seems kind. I invited her to the meal, and she said yes, but that was the end of our conversation. She keeps to herself, so I don’t know much about her. Heck, I haven’t even heard her tell us her talent yet! Do you know it?” Eita said, smiling as he tapped his chin, wondering about Kagome.

“She’s the Ultimate Horror Novelist. When I left the chemistry lab, I went to the garden and met her. She seemed comfortable around me, but doesn’t seem to like large crowds at all. She seems… self-deprecating at times. She can get especially worried very easily too. I want to know more about her, but I don’t know how to approach her.” Mirai said, poking at the grass while she spoke.

“I don’t know either. If she doesn’t seem comfortable around large crowds, it’d be best to approach her when she’s in a calming environment, like this garden. You said you met her in the garden, right? If you two met up in this place again, she might be able to talk to you without feeling anxious.” Eita said, standing up and walking towards a few lilacs.

“Hey, why does this place calm you in the first place? I would expect a bike courier to enjoy high-energy physical activities, not frolicking in some tranquil garden.” Mirai said, pulling a violet from the ground and sniffing it, then following Eita.

“Oh. It’s a difficult story to tell… but I suppose I must answer your question…” Eita said, sadly chuckling and having a sorrowful smile on his face. He sighed. “My mother. She was a florist. She was famous for her work. She loved arranging flowers, decorating, growing flowers. She loved everything about flowers. She was one with nature. I originally wanted to follow her in her career. She was my inspiration, my idol, my role model. She motivated me so much, and became the one I looked to whenever I was stressed.”

“Oh… did anything happen to her?” Mirai asked, slightly saddened by Eita’s expression, noticing that something bad must have happened to his mother.

“Sh-she passed away. She was on a cruise, working, and… the ship sunk. Ever since then… I’ve had a fear of water, that I haven’t told anyone about. Ever since my mother died…” Eita said, covering his mouth as tears started forming in his eyes. He tried not to cry to the best of his abilities, but he couldn’t help but tear up. “Why?! Why did she have to be taken away from me?!”

Eita proceeded to stand up, and pull different flowers out of the ground, throwing them on the floor immediately after picking them up. Angry screams of his filled the air. He proceeded to collapse on the ground, tears still completely covering his face. Mirai couldn’t help but tear up as well, seeing Eita like this. She felt like it was her fault he was crying now, and on the ground pounding the grassy ground.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, Eita! I’m so stupid, this is my fault…” Mirai said, tears now flowing down her cheeks, as she saw Eita break down. She slowly moved closer to him, each step steady and careful. She then put her arms around him, and hugged him tightly, not letting him go.

“Mirai…” Eita said, realizing that Mirai’s arms were now around him. “I’m so sorry for acting this way. I thought being in a garden would keep me calm. But it… it just angered me more. She told me not to be like this. She taught me not to be like this.” 

“Then… honor her memory. Prove to the world that your destiny is not to die, but to live. You will live, and prove to your mother that you can be a better person, just like she taught you.” Mirai said, trying her best to relieve Eita of his stress, tears flowing down her cheeks rapidly.

“It’s not that easy! She’s been dead for years, but I still can’t get over it!” Eita said, now hugging Mirai back, his voice calmer and less angry.

“I know, Eita. I lost somebody too. I can’t even remember her name now, but she was everything to me. She felt like she was worthless in this world, and she…” Mirai was barely able to say, remembering the moments with her best friend, now lost in the memories she tried to get rid of.

“Thank you. At least… at least you understand the pain of losing somebody…” Eita said, letting go of Mirai, and pulling himself away from her. He took a ribbon from his pocket, and picked up all of the fallen lilacs and violets. He slowly put them all together, piece by piece, and tied the ribbon around them after he bundled the flowers up. Mirai stood up, curious about what he was doing.

“Huh…?” Mirai emitted.

“For you, it’s the least I can do to apologize.” Eita said, holding the bouquet of flowers out to Mirai. Mirai blushes, and smiled gladly, appreciating that Eita appeared to have calmed down.

“Eita, thank you.” Mirai responded, taking the bouquet of flowers, her tears beginning to fade. 

“I hope we can talk later, Mirai…” Eita said. “You’re a great person.”

“We will. Will I see you at dinner?” Mirai asked, her smile still incredibly bright from Eita’s kindness.

“Yeah. I have to prepare. Thank you, again.” Eita answered. “Farewell, Mirai.”

“Farewell…” Mirai said, still holding the bouquet of purple flowers.

Mirai, after a few minutes, left the garden and headed to her room. Opening her door, she smiled brightly. She put the flowers on a shelf, and locked the door behind her as she left. She departed towards the dining hall, and when she opened the door, she saw that a few people were already there. She could see Taeko, Tsubaki, Hideki, Eita, and Kaoru, sitting and conversing amongst themselves.

“Hey, Mirai! Hey Eita, I thought this Kagome girl would be here! I hate waiting! Why don’t you start cooking yet?” Kaoru yelled out, being incredibly impatient. She crossed her arms, and slightly leaned back in her seat.

“I want to make sure she’s here before I start, Kaoru. I talked to her, and she said she would be here by now…” Eita said, nervously fidgeting with his hands. “What if…”

“Hey! Don’t think about that! How about I check on her? I need to talk to her anyways! I’m sure nothing bad happened! She’s a strong soul!” Mirai said, smiling, and walking towards Eita as she tried to comfort him with her words.

“Alright… Mirai, I’ll go with you. I want to make sure she’s alright too.” Eita said, getting up from his seat and pushing his chair in.

“Be careful, you too! It’d be absolutely disastrous if anything bad happened to any of you! I wish you luck!” Taeko said, cupping her hands together with a worried expression on her face. 

“Yeah… hopefully she’s not…” Hideki said, not finishing what he was trying to say. However, everybody knew was he was thinking, and looked down as they didn’t want to comprehend what might have happened to Kagome.

“Let’s… let’s go, Eita.” Mirai said, sighing, hopeful that fate wouldn’t lead to a disastrous occurrence. “Fate… fate isn’t cruel. She can’t be…”

“Come on.” Eita said, taking Mirai’s hand, and pulling her out the door. 

“Do you really think she’s… dead?” Mirai said, once they were out the door, away from everyone else. “She’s so important to this future. Why would she say that she wanted to be a sacrifice? We can find another solution… She doesn’t need to die to save everyone else.”

“I don’t know… she said she wanted to be killed… but I don’t imagine somebody would actually kill her. I don’t trust many people here, but I thought nobody would be pressured enough to actually kill.” Eita said, shaking his head as he held Mirai’s hand tightly.

“Eita, if Kagome is truly… dead, please don’t allow fate to take you too. You don’t deserve to die. You don’t deserve any of this. Promise me you won’t die.” Mirai said, feeling as if tears would come out of her eyes. However, she resisted the temptation, knowing that it wasn’t the time to cry.

“I can’t promise that.” Eita said plainly, beginning to hug Mirai. “I’ll try to survive, but you don’t know what people here will do. Anyways, let’s find Kagome. We need to find out if… she’s dead or alive.”

“Yeah…” Mirai agreed, hugging Eita back. She then let go of him, and was lead to Kagome’s room by Eita, where they both stopped. Eita slowly put his hand on the knob, and turned it slowly. He found that the door wasn’t locked, and opened it a bit. He peeked inside, sweat coming down his face as he awaited what was to be seen next.

It was Kagome. She was reading a book, laying on her bed and smiling brightly as she turned the pages. 

“Kagome! You gave us a heart attack!” Mirai yelled out, running towards Kagome and hugging her immediately. Kagome was so focused on the book, that she didn’t realize the two had come into her room until she found two arms wrapped around her. 

“Mirai?!” Kagome shouted, her mouth opened in a circular shape. She was surprised, immediately dropping the book she was holding. Kagome found that in an instant, Mirai was hugging her tightly, not letting go when Mirai twitched in shock. “I’m alright… you shouldn’t worry so much… like I said, I’m-“

“You are important to this future, Kagome! I don’t care if you don’t think so, because you’re important to my future! You’re important to this future! You’re important to me! I didn’t mean what I said, and I’ve been regretting it so much! I’m so sorry…” Mirai said, tears now flowing down her cheeks as Kagome imprisoned Mirai in her arms. Mirai wasn’t sure why she was crying, but knew why at the same time. Kagome laughed, and hugged Mirai back.

“I forgave you already. People can say stupid things sometimes when they’re upset. I know I can too.” Kagome said, smiling softly as she closed her eyes, still captured in Mirai’s hug.

“I’m so glad you’re alright, Kagome! We thought you might have been killed! I mean, your door was unlocked! Somebody could have easily came in and…” Eita said, running towards the two, a worried sigh escaping his lips. 

“I’m forgetful sometimes. When I’m reading a book, I just… lose myself in it. I don’t pay any attention to the outside world. That’s why I’m a novelist, I guess. I’m so sorry for worrying you two. Is there any way I can make it up to you?” Kagome said, smiling as she let go of Mirai, stood up from her bed, and turned to Eita. 

“Let’s go back to the dining hall and eat. We need to have our one last peaceful day before… everything is set into motion tomorrow.” Mirai said, remembering the awful motive Monokuma planned that morning, that one of them would die if there were no murders. Mirai was shaken up by that, and wished there would be some way for all of them to not be forced into this terrible game. Mirai knew fate wasn’t cruel, but she questioned her own thoughts, wondering if she was truly right about fate.

“Yeah… Let’s go.” Eita said. The three of them then left Kagome’s room, and quickly returned to the dining hall, where Hideki, Taeko, Tsubaki, and Kaoru were waiting.

“Finally! What were you doing, quiet girl? We were worried sick! And we’re all starving!” Kaoru yelled out, standing up from her seat and putting her hands on her hips, smiling as she saw the three enter the room.

“I wasn’t starving, well unless you were, my dear Taeko!” Tsubaki said, looking towards Taeko and putting her hand on Taeko’s shoulder.

“Turquoise, you need to have your own opinions, for once… you can’t rely on me so much.” Taeko said, frowning as she moved Taeko’s hand away.

“Taeko…” Tsubaki said, looking shocked and heartbroken. Then, she crossed her arms, looking disappointed and betrayed. “Anyways… I’m glad you three ended up alright. You were taking a while, so, I was kind of worried.”

“I’m so happy you’re all okay! I wouldn’t be able to stand it if some of my favorite people were hurt!” Hideki said, raising his arms in the air excitedly.

“Favorite…?” Mirai asked, curious about what Hideki meant. “Well, you’re one of my favorites too! You’re kind! Fate is wonderful to let me meet all of you! You’re all great people!”

“Anyways, I’ll start dinner. Farewell, for now! If any of you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen. I would, however, prefer to be alone while I’m cooking, so nothing takes my attention away from cooking.” Eita said, heading towards the kitchen, waving goodbye as he entered the smaller room. Kagome and Mirai then sat down on the opposite side of the table as the rest.

“We’re finally going to eat! I can’t wait!” Kaoru yelled, smiling as she rubbed her stomach.

“Eita is a great cook and a bike courier all in one! I wonder if he’s able to perform sufficiently as well…” Hideki said, tapping his chin lightly as he wondered about Eita’s talents.

“It doesn’t matter! As long as I get to eat dinner with some of my friends!” Taeko said, cupping her hands together and smiling cheerfully. “Especially you, Turqiouse.”

“Oh!” Tsubaki said, noticing her name was said. She returned Taeko’s smile. “Thank you, Taeko!”

“It’s nice to meet you all officially…” Kagome said suddenly. “I apologize for my suspicious silence in the morning meeting yesterday. I am greatly uncomfortable around large groups of people. A group of six is much easier to handle than a group of fifteen.” 

“Quiet girl talks!” Kaoru said, surprised at Kagome’s clear words. “No mumbling, stuttering, or anything!”

“I would appreciate it if you don’t call me that… what’s your name? I don’t think I’ve gotten it.” Kagome replied, now realizing she didn’t have most of the group’s names. “I don’t know most of you, actually.”

“Kaoru Hayashi! The Ultimate Snake Milker!” Kaoru said proudly, holding her fist to her heart.

“Taeko Takahashi! I am the Ultimate Jeweler, master of gemstones and jewels!” Taeko said happily, then putting a hand on Tsubaki’s shoulder. “This is Tsubaki Arakawa! She is the Ultimate Abstract Artist! She’s incredibly motivated, inspired, and creative!”

“Thank you, Taeko!” Tsubaki said, smiling from ear to ear at the compliments. “Taeko herself is the only person in this room worth knowing, so you better remember her!” 

“I am the Ultimate Animateur, Hideki Hasegawa! It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!” Hideki said, standing up from his seat and bowing.

“Oh! It’s so nice to meet you all! You seem like great people! I hope we are able to get along, even if… tomorrow…” Kagome said, slowly pausing as she couldn’t find the right words to say. 

“You all act like cowards sometimes! You should be more brave, like me! Nobody’s going to die tonight, tomorrow, or any time! I’ll protect you all!” Kaoru replied, proudly crossing her arms and standing up from her seat.

“You’re right! Our performance is not over!” Hideki said, putting his fist up in the air, supporting Kaoru and her inspirational words. “We’ll all survive! Let’s all survive together!”

“Yes! I shall support your marvelous, miraculous words! All of you are such motivating people!” Taeko said, standing up like the other two and raising her fist in the air.

“I’ll survive with you, my dear Taeko!” Tsubaki said, following Taeko’s actions.

“Guys…” Kagome said, looking down. “We can’t promise that to each other.”

Mirai stood up and put a fist in the air as well. She then held out her other hand to Kagome, “Won’t you survive with us, the amazing Kagome Ainara, Ultimate Horror Novelist?”

Kagome blushed, looking down as she fidgeted with her fingers. She then looked up, a gentle, solemn smile on her face, and stood up as well, raising a fist in the air, while taking Mirai’s hand.

“I can’t promise you I’ll survive, but I can promise you’ll be in my heart forever, Mirai Higurashi. Let fate be kind to you.” Kagome said, smiling softly.

“Thank you, Kagome.” Mirai said, lowering herself to kiss Kagome’s hand. Kagome pulled her hand away in shock, and lowered her head. “You are important to this future, Kagome.”

“Yeah! We’re all in it to survive, together!” Kaoru said, waving her fist in the air, as did all the others.

“Hey, everyone! I finished the meal!” Eita said, coming out of the kitchen, and holding two plates full of food. He then looked at Kagome and Mirai first, and nodded. “Here, Kagome. Your food, made just for you.” 

Kagome nodded and spoke, “Th-thank you, Eita. I… I’m starving. Ha!” Kagome immediately started eating without waiting for the others, taking a bunch of food with every bite. She then pushed away, and closed her eyes, as if waiting for something.

Suddenly, a scream was heard. 

“AHH!” A feminine voice screamed, coming from the outside the dining hall. Everyone in the dining hall immediately looked alarmed, and stood up from their seats at once, running towards the door. They all split up in different directions, frantically searching for the noise. Mirai went off with Kaoru, both heading towards the gym. What they saw shocked them.

“Haha! We got you freaks!” Kishiko yelled, pointing her fingers at Kaoru and Mirai and laughing. Haruka, next to Kishiko, was chuckling loudly, a jumping up and down, appearing as if she just pulled a successful prank. “That scream was just from shorty here!” 

“You… you idiots! Why did you do a fucking thing like that? You worried us all!” Kaoru said, her hands being formed into right fists, as Kaoru rolled up her sleeves.

“Kaoru, they’re not worth your time. Fate has lead them down a dangerous path.” Mirai said, sighing as she put her hand on Kaoru’s shoulder. She then yelled as loudly as she was able to, “Everyone! The scream was just a prank from Haruka and Kishiko!” 

“You two… you better be aware some people will hate you for this…” Kaoru said, growling as she resisted attacking the two mischievous girls. Haruka took her hat off her head and bowed, laughing as she did, while Kishiko clapped at Haruka’s performance.

“You think we care? People hate us enough already! A ghost girl and a criminal, the perfect duo! We’re unstoppable!” Kishiko said, putting her hands on her hips proudly.

“Unstoppable? I’ll teach you a lesson one day, miss criminal. You need to learn not to do anything like that!” Kaoru said, raising her fist in front of her, as she charged towards Kishiko, and getting in her face. Kishiko poked Kaoru’s nose, and chuckled loudly.

“You think I’m afraid of you? Dear, I’ve killed hundreds, even thousands! I’ve destroyed towns, I’ve stolen priceless artifacts! I’m impossible to defeat. Go ahead and try, but you’ll never get past me or Haruka.” Kishiko said, not afraid to challenge Kaoru.

“Kaoru, no!” Eita yelled, just entering the room. “You can’t sacrifice yourself just because of some other’s reckless decision!” 

“Yeah! You can’t!” Kagome said, following Eita inside. 

“Listen to them, Kaoru!” Mirai said, walking towards Kagome and Eita and putting her hands on their shoulders. Mirai noticed something strange about Kagome’s hands, but shook it off, paying attention to the situation at hand.

“Hey! What happened here?” A strange voice said, entering the gym behind the three of them. Mirai looked behind her, and recognized Ryo.

“Oh, Ryo!” Mirai emitted. “Kishiko and Haruka here fooled us by screaming, and making us think that somebody had died.” 

“Really? It’s like you all are playing a children’s game. A prank? In a life or death game? Uninformed and childish.” Ryo said, sighing as he rolled his eyes. “I was trying to enjoy a dinner by myself, but of course one of you had to ruin it. Just wonderful.”

“I was trying to have an early slumber! Why’d you have to pull a prank at a time like this?” Akiko said, entering the gym.

“Wh-what happened h-here?” Osamu said, obviously frightened from the scream. “I was just in my room and-“

“Everyone, stop!” Kaoru yelled, putting her foot on the ground. “I don’t care if you didn’t get your beauty sleep, or if you got frightened by such a prank! You all are cowards who only care about themselves!”

“Come on, Kaoru, Eita, Kagome. Let’s find Hideki, Taeko, and Tsubaki, and get back to the meal.” Mirai said, sighing as she wrapped her arms around herself, not favoring the chaotic circumstances.

“You’re… you’re right. Let’s go.” Kaoru said, sighing in agreement.

“Hah! See you later! Can’t wait for your precious little friendships to be ruined once one of you die tomorrow!” Kishiko yelled, smiling menacingly as she waved goodbye.

“Why did you do this?” Kaoru said, looking back as she was about to leave.

“We’re all going to die.” Haruka said while smiling, not moving a bit. “I might as well have some fun before one of you die tomorrow. I think it’s obvious who will die first, and it’s in your little group of friends. The weak ones always go down first… The ones who are kind-hearted, naive, willing to be killed to let all the others survive for a few days. We just need to wait for the one who will agree to kill her…” 

Kagome looked down, rubbing her arm as she backed away, running away from everyone.

“See how weak she is? I can’t wait for her to die tonight…” Haruka added threateningly, as everyone as stayed silent.

“NO! She won’t die!” Mirai said, running towards Haruka and pushing her to the ground. Haruka coughed, and laughed loudly, her laughter echoing amongst everyone in the room. Everyone was speechless.

“You’ll see… you’ll see that she’ll die first. I wonder who will kill her, though. Such a mystery!” Haruka said, standing up and brushing the dust off her skirt.

“Let’s go, Mirai… It isn’t good to be here.” Eita said, walking towards Mirai and taking her hand. Kaoru did the same, taking Mirai’s other hand. The three of them exited the gym, and regathered with Hideki, Tsubaki, and Taeko, but they were not able to find Kagome. They all returned to the dining hall, and resumed their meals.

“I’m not in the mood to eat anymore… I’m sorry, Eita.” Mirai immediately said when Eita approached her.

“That’s fine, Mirai. This food wasn’t that good anyways.” Eita said, taking the plate of food and throwing it away.

“Are you kidding?” Kaoru replied, rubbing her stomach. “It’s delicious!”

“Yeah, it makes me feel better after that… occurrence.” Hideki said, biting into the food and putting his fork back on his plate.

“It is delicious! It is miraculous! You are a fantastic chef, Eita!” Taeko said, cupping her hands together in happiness.

“Thank you guys, but we should finish up soon, and sleep. Mirai, how about you check up on Kagome and spend time with her tonight? She needs some support after what Haruka said.” Eita said, fidgeting with his hands as he looked nervous. “Hopefully she isn’t killed by some twisted soul like Kishiko and Haruka…”

“Hopefully not. I’ll go check on her now. Farewell, all of you. I’ll hopefully see you tomorrow.” Mirai said, waving goodbye as she exited the dining hall. She quickly walked over to Kagome’s door, knocking lightly on the door. After a few seconds, it opened, and there was Kagome.

“Mirai!” Kagome said, hugging Mirai tightly and not letting go. Mirai returned the hug, smiling as she hugged her friend. 

“Would you like to come in? I’ve been reading a horror book I wrote to calm me down.” Kagome said, letting go of Mirai, and taking her hands. “It is especially terrifying! Maybe when… or if… we escape, I can make a story about this killing game!” 

“Yeah! I’d like to see your writing!” Mirai said excitedly. “Not to brag, but I’ve wrote a bit myself!”

“Ha! It’s not like you can beat me in writing! Come on in!” Kagome said, pulling Mirai inside her room.

“Woah! I haven’t noticed how many books there were in here!” Mirai said, astonished at all the book shelves in Kagome’s room. 

“Well, I am the Ultimate Horror Novelist, after all! What writer wouldn’t have millions of books around her at all times?” Kagome said, proudly putting her hands on her hips.

“Good point! Ha! Speaking of writing, when did fate lead you down the path of such hobbies! I bet it’s such an interesting story!” Mirai said.

“Hm… okay, sit down. I’ll tell you!” Kagome said, starting to sit down on her bed, and patting the spot next to her. “It’s definitely a horrifying, tragic tale! Well, not really, but it’s interesting!”

“Alright!” Mirai said, sitting down next to her friend. “Go ahead!”

“Well, let’s begin.” Kagome started, preparing herself to tell a long time. “One fateful day, while I was reading outside of my home, a mansion owned by my parents. I was an idiotic child, so when my cat was scratching and meowing at the door, I impulsively let him out without asking anybody.”

“Yeah, most of us were probably reckless children. But I bet you were an adorable child!” Mirai said, poking Kagome in the cheek to tease her.

“Hey! Never interrupt a writer when she’s telling a tale!” Kagome said, frowning as she poked Mirai in the cheek to get back at her.

“Okay, Okay! Resume!” Mirai said, excited to hear the rest of the tale.

“Well, my cat naturally ran away. Like the child I was, I chased her into the woods, and got lost. However, I wasn’t scared. I actually found the silence naturalness of the forest… beautiful. It was peaceful, serene, tranquil. The waters flowed gently like a river, the wind made a quiet type of whistle that was like a melody to your ears, the sunlight illuminated the small water droplets on the leaves, where small rainbows were created. It was absolutely marvelous.”

“That sounds… amazing, Kagome.” Mirai said, the image of the forest completely clear in her mind. Mirai could tell that Kagome was a natural storyteller, and that she deserved the title of an ultimate immediately.

“I spent the whole day in that forest. I explored and explored to my heart’s content.” Kagome said, fondly remembering the moments of when she was young. “It was the best day of my young life. I saw so many deers, raccoons, squirrels, butterflies, birds… they were all so lovely and full of life. I even saw a bird feeding it’s young. It was slightly disgusting, yes, but it was such a rare thing to see that I couldn’t help but appreciate being there at that moment. I saw deers frolicking, and I was careful not to disturb them. I observed squirrels sleeping in trees, with their bushy tails wrapping around them. I saw caterpillars eating leaves and starting to form cocoons. It was all so natural and beautiful.” 

“That’s all so amazing… Fate must have saw you as special to give you such opportunities.” Mirai said, awe filling her mind, a smile on her face from ear to ear as she intently focused on Kagome’s story.

“I eventually found my cat in a small cave, scared and confused. Poor kitten… When I returned to my home, I had an awful lot to explain to my parents. They were worried sick about me and our cat. I was grounded for a few months, but… I dealt with it, and made sure to never let the cat out again.” Kagome explained, sighing when she finished.

“So, how does this all lead to you becoming a novelist of horror?” Mirai asked, curious of how a story about getting lost in the woods lead to a professional career in horror.

“That’s the interesting part!” Kagome said, laughing and continuing on with her story. “You see, the particular forest that I got lost in was rumored to be haunted. When people find out that I was in that forest, and didn’t get a single injury, they all thought that I was possessed or something. So I made up fabricated stories to scare them all! It was absolutely astonishing how quickly the other children believed me. Those were the first stories I created myself, and I found a strange type of joy in it that I’ve never felt before. It was as if… I knew it was my destiny to continue creating stories for other people…”

“Hey, destin-“ Mirai said, laughing, but just as she was about to finish, Kagome coughed loudly and violently, blood dripping from her mouth as she coughed. 

“I-I’m going to the bathroom. Stay here, don’t follow me.” Kagome said, jumping off her bed and running out of the door, without even giving Mirai a chance to speak.

“Kagome…?” Mirai asked, just as Kagome left. Mirai knew this wasn’t natural. It wasn’t fate for Kagome to be suddenly coughing blood. Mirai stayed in Kagome’s room, feeling betrayed, feeling alone, feeling like destiny left her. It was ten minutes before she was able to comprehend her life again, and she started jumping off the bed, and walking towards the door. She felt like something big was about to occur. She felt like something dangerous was going on. Suddenly, as she stepped towards the door, it flew open, with a barely-standing Kagome standing in front of her, clothes ripped, blood seeping from several injuries from her torso and arms.

“Mirai, I have to-“ Kagome said, just as she collapsed on the floor. Mirai immediately kneeled down, and picked up Kagome’s body. Kagome was coughing violently, blood coming out from each cough. Kagome tried to speak once more, “If this is the last time I see you, I have to tell you that-“

Kagome Ainara, the Ultimate Horror Novelist, was dead, in Mirai’s arms.


	5. Chapter One Part Three

Tears. Her vision blurred. Her hands brought her closer to what was once her best friend.

“No… no…” Mirai stammered, staring down at the body of her best friend, Kagome Ainara. She wasn’t able to take her eyes off of the corpse. The world faded away. Nothing else was important, because she was holding the body of an innocent girl, a girl she cared for and loved so much already, a girl she would do anything for to keep happy, and girl who had spent her last moments with her. Kagome Ainara was everything to her. “H-how could this happen?”

“This isn’t fate! This isn’t destiny! No! No! How could I be betrayed like that?! Kagome! Kagome!” Mirai shouted at nothing. She pretended to speak to her friend, as if she expected a response, but around her was the unsympathetic echoes of the school’s hallways. She was utterly and completely alone. The girl was isolated in her own crumbling world, and all she wanted with her was the one she held in her arms. Her window in which to view the world shattered with a slight, soft breeze. Everything shattered, and she walked across the glass. She bled with realization. This wasn’t some game she was meant to play along with, and she suffered for her naivety and obliviousness. She had suffered for her ignorance, for her complete dedication to fate. Yet she stuttered softly, “Please… come back…”

And she felt terror creep up on her stronger than before. “You promised that you would live! I… I cared for you so much. Why did you have to die? Kagome… I- I miss you so much already…” Mirai sobbed, trembling as she held the corpse of Kagome tightly, as if pretending she was giving a friend a hug, as if she were still alive. She touched her head to Kagome’s. She held Kagome tightly, as if trying to feel a heartbeat, a sign of movement. It was a dead hope that she tried to grab, to cling onto. She already knew the truth. There was not a single beat of her heart.

“Who did this to you? Who could have attacked you?! It wasn’t fate for you to die! Not you, not you of all people!” Mirai cried, when she was finally able to accept the truth. She could find no sign or signal of life anywhere in Kagome’s body. She was truly dead. The dead of dreams and thoughts and never of what she thought was reality.

“Fate doesn’t exist. My dreams don’t exist! They are some made-up, cruel fairytale! Fate… it isn’t real anymore. It can’t.” Mirai admitted, accepting that her world view was shattered, and would never be the same again, unless she believed the unbelievable. That the world around her was the fate she loved. She regretted everything she did and what she didn’t do, what she didn’t say, what she wasn’t able to tell Kagome before she died. 

“I should have listened to you, Kagome. To not be so dependent on fate, and everything… I should have listened… I should’ve… I should’ve done so much.” Mirai grieved, crying loudly as the blood from the body stained her clothing, but she didn’t care. Kagome was dead. Kagome Ainara, who had so much to live for, who was so important to her, was dead. It hurt more than anything. More than all the wrongs she had felt before. 

She wanted to strike herself. She wanted to die and join Kagome in the afterlife. How would she go on? Mirai couldn’t. She barely could. Yet, after every ounce of hope Kagome has given to her, Mirai knew that she had to survive. Mirai had to make sure Kagome was avenged.

“Mirai, what… oh god… oh god no…” Eita gasped, immediately collapsing to the ground as he touched the floor. His fears were met. Somebody had died, due to the motive. Somebody had killed Kagome Ainara.

“Eita, what-“ Kaoru blurted, just before seeing the tragedy that had occurred. “Oh my god… what bitch did this?!”

“Ding ding ding!” A childish, loud voice emitted, just before appearing on the monitor in Kagome’s room. “A body has been discovered! You’ll have two hours to investigate the crime scene, and any relating areas! Be sure to investigate thoroughly, or you might be destined to death in the next trial! Farewell!”

“I knew it! It was all too obvious! Obvious to the point that it was boring, if you ask me!” Haruka bragged, exiting her room with Kishiko right beside her. She walked through the doorway, past Eita and Kaoru, and sat down near the body. She poked the cheek of Kagome, all too excited that there was a death. “Yep! She’s really dead!”

“Don’t touch her!” Mirai hissed, pushing Haruka away as she held Kagome’s body tightly against her chest. “You killed her, didn’t you? You were saying all that about how she would die… You were the one that attacked her!”

“Sorry, but I was not!” Haruka claimed, standing up, and putting her hand on her heart. She happily smiled, as if trying to tease Mirai. “I swear I wouldn’t do something as evil as that! I’m being truthful!” 

“You liar! You killed her!” Mirai thundered, standing up and pushing Haruka to the ground. “Why? Why did you do it?! Kagome was important! Kagome was wonderful! Kagome deserves to survive with all of us!”

“I guess she wasn’t important enough to stay alive!” Kishiko blurted, barging into the room to look at the body. “And who killed her? Little miss Mirai was the first one to find her…”

“I didn’t kill her! You ignorant bitch!” Mirai said, slapping Kishiko across the face. Kishiko stepped back, and touched her cheek lightly, a complete look of shock on her face. 

“W-well…” Kishiko stuttered, her body shaking as backed away from Mirai. “I didn’t expect dreaming girl to act so feisty… This is the first time I’ve ever been slapped, wow…”

“Kaoru! Eita! Watch the body! Make sure this freak doesn’t touch her!” Kagome hissed, pointing directly at shaken-up Kishiko, who backed away even more, her eyes wide and frightened. “I’ll investigate everywhere! I’ll make sure Kagome is avenged!” 

“Hey! You can’t get away with slapping Kishiko!” Haruka shouted, charging closer to Mirai, forming fists. She stood on her toes, to attempt to match Mirai’s height, and get in her face. 

“What are you going to do?! You killed her, and I’ll prove it, Haruka Miyawaki! I’ll prove to everyone that you deserve death!” Mirai thundered, pushing Haruka aside, and storming out of the room. Haruka wouldn’t get away with this. Kagome must be avenged, no matter the cost. She was going to look over the entire school if she had to. She needed nobody’s assistance to prove that Haruka murdered Kagome Ainara. That freak was fucking dead to her.

“Mirai, wait!” Eita shouted, holding his hand out to her. Mirai ignored him, and continued charging forward to the closest room, the dining hall.

Once she entered the dining hall, her eyes focused on Monokuma, holding a file in his hands. He began to laugh. “Upupupupu-“ 

Mirai took the file before he gave it to her, immediately taking it and sitting on a table. The bear began rambling about disrespect towards the headmaster, but Mirai couldn’t care. She buried her head in the “Monokuma” file, staring at the short blurb. She traced the words with her fingers. Kagome. She felt her resolve weakening, and Mirai quickly placed the file on a table. She looked around for anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing. Nothing at all.

Almost immediately, she began walking over to the kitchen, when her shoulder was grabbed by a familiar hand. Mirai turned hesitantly but as she turned, locked eyes with Eita. Mirai felt herself calm down a bit, although she was still on edge. It was her friend.

She trusted him.

“Mirai. You’re shaking.” Eita kept his hand on her shoulder, feeling her body tremble without a single break. Mirai was suddenly aware that… she was. “Sit down. Calm down a little, Mirai. It’s okay...” He seemed to have a hard time articulating what he wanted to say. 

The girl didn’t know if it was sadness, or anger, or fear. But she was trembling with something. “It… it shouldn’t stop me from investigating. I’m getting revenge for Kagome’s death. No matter what.”

Eita paused, sighing and then speaking. “Then I’ll follow you, okay, Mirai?”

Mirai nodded, unable to create a smile but trying to convey that she was thankful for the companion. It would make everything more bearable. “To the kitchen, then.”

Only a few steps, and she found herself at the kitchen door. Once she opened the door, she saw what appeared to be a fairly normal kitchen with an extraordinary amount of cupboards. She supposed it was different types of food and snacks. Under her feet was a soft beige carpet.

She made her way to the sink, and found that it was spotless. Eita opened the cupboards and went through everything, finding nothing suspicious. Lastly was the drawers. Mirai opened each drawer one by one. The last drawer she opened had knives. Almost all of the knives were present, but something was clear. There were two missing knives. Her mind took her back to blood. Kagome’s blood. 

Mirai closed her eyes and took time before finally opening them, meeting eyes with Eita, who was going through the knives once more. Soon enough, Mirai found something. It was a blue stain on the carpet. She squinted, staring at it. Was it food related? She couldn’t think of any blue food. She supposed that it probably didn’t matter.

“Eita. Let’s go.” She mustered up energy and said, turning away from the stain and walking outside the kitchen. She made her way out with Eita behind her. Eita seemed to be quiet due to thinking on hyperdrive. Mirai was quiet because she could barely speak more than a few words. It was quiet.

She found herself at the library before she knew it, where Tsubaki and Hideki stood. But more importantly was that the library was a mess.

“Mirai!” Tsubaki said, bouncing over to where Mirai stood, staring at the library. “You lost your girl, didn’t you? You should’ve been more careful! Hmm… You regret something, don’t you? It’s cute. I can see everything right on your face!”

Mirai tried to ignore that guilt was piercing through her, and was only able to speak of things unrelated. “...Where’s Taeko?”

Tsubaki smiled. “In the garden, of course! I’m going to go and visit her immediately!” She immediately ran out.

Mirai looked to the ripped up books in front of her. The books were torn and ripped in random areas, most likely cut by a sharp object, like a knife. She stared at all of the books, trying to puzzle out what happened. Some were stained with the red of blood, which covered the entire library. Small splatters of blood, almost everywhere. It undoubtedly had something to do with Kagome. Near the books was an unreadable note in pieces of paper. Mirai couldn’t figure it out.

Eita then walked towards Mirai, tapping her on the shoulder. “I’ve found a knife, Mirai.”

“A… knife?” She asked anxiously, feeling nauseous at the idea of seeing not only the blood splattered around the library, but the blood on what had caused it. What had cut through her best friend. “The blood…”

“The puzzling object of my concern is that there is no blood on it. It’s incredibly clean, as if it hasn’t gone near anything at all.” Eita added, leading Mirai towards the ground where a knife laid. 

“...This…” Mirai took a look at the knife, looking for clues related to it, but found something that made rage fill up in her chest instead. “This is white hair. There’s white hair here. The only person here with white hair is Haruka Miyawaki. She killed Kagome! She killed Kagome! And I have proof!” She shouted, knowing with all her heart that it must’ve been her.

Her body began to shake again, but this time with an inexplicable rage that made her want to grasp the revenge she needed. Eita took her hand. “Calm down, Mirai. Calm down. It’s just hair. She could’ve been here looking for clues, or before the murder even happened.”

“But-“ She stopped herself. Mirai breathed in. She breathed out. She breathed in. She breathed out. “Thanks. Yeah… I don’t have the full picture yet.” She said, still feeling hatred towards Haruka, but calming down as much as she possibly could.

“I’ll just… look around once more.” Mirai let go of Eita’s hand. “Still… thanks. For following me.” 

Eita nodded. “It’s the least I could do.”

Mirai walked around the library once more with Eita behind her, and this time around, her eyes caught sight of red fabric. She picked it up, feeling it. It was the same as Kagome’s outfit. It had to be Kagome’s clothes. She closed her eyes, feeling queasy from staying around Kagome’s blood for so long, however a small amount it was. She stuffed the fabric into a pocket inside her cape and began to leave.

“Where should we go next?” Mirai asked, ready to go anywhere other than the library.

“The chemistry lab?” Eita suggested. Mirai nodded and they switched positions, with Eita leading the way. 

They walked into the room, looking around. Mirai found that not much of the lab was changed. In fact, she could almost see nothing wrong. It seemed worked in, although she wasn’t sure who was working there, there was bound to be someone who did, as some of the chemicals in the cabinets were misplaced.

“There isn’t much here.” Mirai murmured, catching Eita’s attention by tapping him. Eita agreed, and they both found themselves leaving the room.

Eita seemed like he didn’t want to recommend where to go next. “How about we go back to… your room? It’s where… everything happened, so I suppose there could still be something important there.” 

“Yes. I suppose.” Mirai said half-heartedly, wondering how she would ever sleep again in a room where Kagome had died.

It was a long walk back to her room, not because it was far, but because they didn’t want to see the corpse. The moment they walked in, Mirai regretted agreeing to going back. Because there was her best friend. She felt a weakness in her legs. The ripped up clothing. The cuts on her torso and arms. The blood on the floor from what Kagome had coughed up. She couldn’t bear to look any longer, and immediately turned her back to her room. 

“Mirai. Are you okay?” Eita asked after a minute or so of his looking around and her frozen body. 

“I’ve got to go.” Mirai immediately responded, averting her eyes from Eita and beginning to walk. She tried to force a casual smile. The kind that came naturally to her. But even though she tried, the next sentence felt like hell to say. “To the garden. I think it’ll help.”

Eita paused, looked down, and then back at Mirai. “Alright. I hope it really helps.” Mirai kept up the smile, before turning away and letting it drop.

She ran to the garden. It was where she met Kagome, where she had bonded with Eita. It was important, and it would make her happy. But all she felt rising up in her was anger. Anger at Haruka Miyawaki. Anger at fate. She supposed the best word for it would be despair.

Mirai found herself walking into the garden, the same way she had on the first day. But instead of calm contentedness, she felt angry. At the plants for being alive while Kagome wasn’t. At the fate she so worshipped for being so cruel. At the fact that she could almost see Kagome next to her while she sat down in the grass.

She screamed.

And she laid down on the grass, feeling the wind hit her. The grass underneath her that tickled her hair. She blinked, and felt almost numb from all of the tears spilt. Beside her, she saw white flowers stained in red on the ground of the garden, near a pile of broken vegetable and berry plants. It barely entered her mind at all. She ghosted her fingers on the flowers. 

The thought encased itself in her mind and took over. Mirai would get revenge for Kagome. She would do it if it was the last thing she did. The anger brimmed through her whole body. She would unravel it all.

“Okay! Investigation time is over! Go to the trial room immediately!” Monokuma said, appearing on the monitor. Mirai rolled her eyes in annoyance, wanting to investigate longer. But at least it was time to avenge Kagome. To avenge her best friend.

It was time.

Everyone went to the trial room immediately, though some entered with hesitance. Everyone stood at their assigned podiums.

“Now, it’s time to begin! Debate and discuss, fight for your lives! It is time to begin this class trial, the murder of Kagome Ainara!” Monokuma announced, waving his arms in the air as he begun the class trial.

“So, where do we start?” Ryo questioned, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes, as if the class trial was just an annoyance to him. “I already know everything that happened just from the clues, so there’s no point to this.” 

“W-we start with the most i-incriminating scene of a-all…” Osamu stuttered, trying to fight his fear but not being able to do anything against his frightened, shaking body. He gulped, trying to fight back his trepidation in order to finish his statement. “...the library.”

“The library? Oh, the library! Somebody must have gotten attacked there! Such excitement, I wonder who!” Haruka gushed, pressing her hands against her cheeks as she imitated a gasp. She then spun around, jumping up and down with her cape flowing behind her. “Oh, so exciting! I already know everything, since I’m the apparent killer, but let’s find out how it all went down!”

“Urgh…” Mirai shouted, forming her hands into fists as she slammed her hands on the table. Anger. “I’ll prove that you’re the culprit, Haruka! I already have the answer with me!”

“But we need to find out an important thing first… who was attacked in the library? Did you all forget that? Such imperfect idiots...” Akiko grumbled, glaring at everyone around her.

“You’re… you’re kidding me, right? Look who’s the idiot here!” Kaoru yelled, pointing her finger at Akiko and laughing. Akiko responded with a growl, and was about to speak, just before Mirai stopped Kaoru from insulting Akiko any longer.

“Kaoru, shut it! We need to focus! If we really need to prove who was attacked in the library, we’ll do it!” Mirai thundered, slamming her fists down on the podium in front of her. She looked next her, staring at the empty, soulless portrait of Kagome frowning, and tears started to form in her eyes once again. Why did Kagome have to die? “I’ll prove to you all who’s truly at fault here!”

“Well then, go ahead.” Kishiko challenged, smiling from ear to ear with a menacing stare. Mirai was slightly disturbed, but looked down and closed her eyes. She needed to focus, if she was going to avenge Kagome. 

Non-stop Debate Start!

“W-who was attacked in the library…? I may be crime scene cleaner, [but not a detective]...” Osamu mumbled, fidgeting with his hands nervously.

“Does anybody here know? Does anybody have any injuries? [I don’t have any injuries] and I don’t see any injuries on any of you either… Ugh, It’d be a nightmare if I got any wounds!” Akiko shrieked, holding her head as her eyes widened when she thought of her possible imperfections.

“I didn’t get any! I’ve professionally handled snakes most of my life, so it’s [rare I’d let myself get an injury] from any puny human who decides to randomly attack me.” Kaoru proclaimed, putting her hands on her hips proudly.

“The answer is obvious, because they’re the only one with injuries, but perhaps [left behind strings of hair], or an item that belongs to them?” Eita wondered, looking around nervously at everyone around him.

“There isn’t anything [victim left behind] to show who they were! A ruthless killer p-probably [destroyed the evidence] that the victim was ever there!” Ritsu claimed, holding his hand up as he looked down, mumbling his words. 

“What are we going to do? How are we going to find the answer? All of your imperfections are all too obvious…” Akiko growled at Ritsu, noting his nervous expression and sweat coming down his face.

“Wait, Ritsu, that’s wrong!” Mirai proclaimed, pointing her finger at Ritsu, angrily shouting her words as she stared at the Harpist.

Break!

“W-what do you mean?” Ritsu asked, taken aback by Mirai’s anger.

“There’s obviously a clue that links to somebody!” Shouted Mirai, still pointing at Ritsu. “In the library, there were minuscule traces of red fabric. Since nobody else here has any injuries besides one specific person, it’s obvious who was attacked. Kagome Ainara! Her red clothing was cut by the knife that was found in the library, and her torso has multiple small cuts from said knife, so fabric from her shirt was left on the ground while she attempted to escape!”

“You make a good point, and you don’t as imperfect as the rest… So I’ll agree with you. For now.” Akiko grumbled, having to admit that Mirai was correct in her statements.

“Ah, the idiot finally admits it! A miraculous day!” Kishiko celebrated, raising her arms in joy.

“Yes, yes! Kagome was attacked in the library! Everything was figured out already! How boring, but delightful! We’ll get even more time to cause chaos and fear, won’t we, Kishiko?” Haruka gushed, clapping her hands together as she smiled brightly.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook just yet, Haruka Miyawaki!” Mirai snapped, pointing her fingers at Haruka. “Just who exactly attacked her? It was you, Haruka!”

“W-what? She attacked Kagome! That malevolent fiend!” Osamu said, shielding his face as he spoke that.

“Oh, was it me? Was it? Was it? Then, prove it! Prove it! Prove it! I can’t wait for you to prove it! I simply can’t wait! This is exciting! So, super exciting!” Haruka chuckled, her laugh echoing amongst the entire room. Mirai was taken aback by Haruka’s laugh, feeling as if a beast was going to arise from her, and eliminate everybody in the room. Mirai then coughed to stay focused, and didn’t let her fear get in the way of proving that Haruka was the culprit.

Non-stop Debate Start!

“Prove it! Prove it!” Haruka yelled excitedly, staring at Mirai with intense eyes.

“Yeah, it must be Haruka! Her cute face and clothing is just a disguise! Her eyes are dark, [like a demon’s]! She’s definitely the culprit!” Ritsu claimed, hiding his face as he felt like cowering down and hiding from everyone. He shrieked when Haruka gave him an intense, threatening glare.

“Absolutely… just look at her… [she must be the mastermind]!” Akiko shouted, pointing at the menacing Haruka.

“She isn’t the mastermind, obviously! I know she is not the culprit, either! [There’s no proof] that she is!” 

“No, Kishiko! Kagome went to the library alone, and then… slice! Slash! [I cut her down] and attacked her with a knife! Didn’t I, Mirai? Prove it! Prove it! Prove it!” Haruka rhapsodized, jumping up and down as she repeated the phrase “prove it” again and again to Mirai.

“Man, you’re a creepy child… You’re definitely the culprit!” Kaoru claimed, slightly taken aback by Haruka’s enthusiasm and excitement.

“Kishiko… You’re wrong!” Mirai pointed, directly focusing her attention on Kishiko.

Break!

“Well, if I’m wrong, then prove it, dream girl! You can’t defeat me and my words! I’ve gotten away with way too many crimes to be talked down by you!” Kishiko bragged, slamming her palms down on the podium’s surface in front of her.

“There is one very specific clue at the crime you forgot about… white white hair found near the knife that was in the library.” Mirai said, tapping her chin as she thought deeply about what to say. “Nobody else here has white hair… besides Haruka Miyawaki.”

“Oh no, oh no, I forgot to clean the hair! You proved it! You proved it! Yes, I am the culprit!” Haruka said, imitating a gasp as she pressed her palms on her cheeks. Mirai tapped her chin, thinking about Haruka’s odd behavior. She thought about if Kishiko was telling the truth, and if perhaps…

“There is a clue in the library to prove that Haruka was not the only one in the library… She certainly was in the library, but she wasn’t the culprit…” Kishiko claimed, calmly putting a hand on Haruka’s shoulder. “It seems like Haruka’s plan is being completed like she said.” 

Non-stop Debate Start!

“What plan? There’s a plan? Please elaborate on your stratagem. I am thoroughly confused as to what this ‘plan’ of yours is, despite multiple probable guesses already being manifested within my psyche.” Sora asked, staring intently at the pair of mischievous characters, trying to figure out their intentions.

“This is their plan, to confuse us! It was Haruka! She attacked Kagome!” Akiko claimed, slamming her fists down on the table. “She used the knife to slash at Kagome! She threw the [bloody knife] on the ground after Kagome escaped her!”

“There couldn’t have been a person at the crime scene before Haruka, K-Kishiko. Haruka’s [h-hair is at the c-crime scene]! R-remnants of Kagome’s c-clothing are at the crime s-scene!” Osamu stuttered, shaking as he pointed his finger at Kishiko, attempting to get past his fearfulness.

“It is quite illogical to assume that Haruka is the culprit, but there is indeed proof she was at the scene of the crime. Her innocent demeanor and friendship is just a guise, a false simulacra, if you will.” Sora explained, his arms behind his back as he remained completely calm.

“Are we sure? Haruka is-“ Eita was about to claim something, but was interrupted by a very loud voice.

“Haruka was the culprit, obviously! She killed Kagome!” Kaoru blurted proudly, putting her hands on her hips. “She [forgot to clean] her hair up afterwards, preoccupied with cleaning up her clothes from all the blood that splattered on it!”

“Wait, Akiko… I think you’re wrong about that!” Mirai blurted, finally realizing something nobody else brought up yet.

Break!

“I just remembered something that none of us mentioned just yet… How the knife was completely clean. Why was it clean?” Mirai pondered, tapping her chin lightly and closing her eyes as she tried to focus on her remembrances.

“Now that you mention it, there was two knives missing from the drawer… Perhaps Haruka framed herself, for the purpose of this ‘fun’ she likes to have. Kishiko and her certainly have a bond over… chaos.” Hibiki brought up. Mirai nodded while smiling, feeling slightly embarrassed with her previous assumptions.

“I apologize for my assumptions everyone. It may not be Haruka after all.” Mirai apologized, fidgeting with her hands nervously, hoping everyone would forgive her. “But… Haruka, w-why would y-you do that…?”

“Okay, let me be honest with everyone here.” Haruka said, with a completely solemn expression embellished on her face. She stood completely straight, and swallowed a large breath before speaking. “Kishiko and I wanted to have fun… so we had made a plan to wander the halls, looking for anybody suspicious. And… then we saw one specific person wandering the halls with a knife.”

“W-who? They must be the true culprit! That freak is going to pay!” Osamu proclaimed, his entire body shaking, knowing that the true killer is somewhere near him in the room.

“Oh, that very person was… Ritsu Shimizu.” Kishiko claimed, crossing her arms and now staring violently at the now-cowering Ritsu.

“Ritsu… Shimizu…” Mirai spoke slowly and carefully, trying to fully comprehend the name Kishiko spoke. “You… you… YOU MONSTER!”

“Hey, w-why are you taking their word as f-fact…? They’re, they’re probably a-accomplices! Th-they are a-accomplices! They-“ Ritsu stammered, pointing his finger at Kishiko and Haruka, shaking violently.

“Why are you stammering so much? Is that because you’re the culprit? You deserve you to die, you freak? Why did you attack her? WHY!?” Mirai screamed, forming her hands into fists as her fists slammed down on the podium, creating a thundering sound amongst the room. She did not stop to think. “She was so important to me, she was important to this future! You destroyed everything! You need to pay for what you did, you monster! How could you? What was your motive!? I honestly don’t care anymore, just know that we’ll vote for you, and you’ll die!” 

“Mirai, wait-“ Eita blurted, holding his hand out towards Mirai, before he was completely interrupted.

“Monokuma, start the voting! We’re rea-“ Mirai commanded, just before Eita yelled back at her.

“Mirai, stop being reckless! Pay attention to Kagome’s injuries!” Eita hissed, holding Mirai’s arm, trying to calm her down. “The miscellaneous cuts on her body were not fatal injuries! Ritsu didn’t kill Kagome!”

“What-“ Mirai was about to ask, before being interrupted once again.

“Think about it! Kagome had small cuts over her body, but she didn’t have enough time to bleed out from them! Her cause of death must have been different!” Eita screamed, slamming his hands on the table, not wanting everyone to die. “I don’t want you all to die because of your recklessness! I’m angry too, because… because she was important to me too! But don’t kill yourselves without fully examining everything that happened! Find the truth!”

“The truth…?” Mirai asked, not fully comprehending Eita’s words. She had a lifeless, emotionless, blank stare as she tried to think about what he said. She then shook her head, and refuted his statement, “The truth is that Ritsu Shimizu killed Kagome! Kishiko and Haruka said it themselves! I feel like we can trust them, and I know Ritsu killed Kagome, because… because… because… of fate…”

“Mirai, you know fate isn’t real!” Eita shouted back, trying to get through to her head. “There is a truth that you don’t want to accept, a truth you know is reality, that you don’t want to accept as real. You believe in fate so much… that it blocks your view.” 

“Eita… Eita, you’re… you’re right. Fate isn’t real, it’s all in my head…” Mirai admitted, closing her eyes and sighing. “Fate has already proven to me that it’s cruel and heartless. I- I shouldn’t believe in it anymore. Kagome’s kept telling me that I shouldn’t believe in fate… To depend on it so much. She was right. I should listen to her words. I must honor her memory. It’s the least I can do.” 

“Now, think about it. What truly killed Kagome?” Eita said, now calming down after Mirai accepted the truth.

“She… before she died, she was coughing up immense amounts of blood… does that have anything to do with it…?” Mirai said, thinking about the moments before and after Kagome’s death intensely. She had to remember. She had to acknowledge the truth.

Non-stop Debate Start!

“Well, after all of that… we have only one piece of information to help us. [Kagome coughed up blood] before her death.” Ryo stated, rolling his eyes. “How is that supposed to help us?”

“Well, there’s [multiple ways a victim] can go… We just have to find one with the piece of information!” Kishiko said, putting her hands to her hips, and proudly standing tall.

“Hey Mirai? How did Kagome die? Huh? Huh? Say it, say it, say it! Say it now!” Haruka said, leaning forward to stare at Mirai while clapping her hands excitedly.

“Shut up, bobble head, and let us focus. Now, coughing blood… I’m only knowledgeable about poison, but some poisons make you cough up blood… Yeah, that’s it!” Kaoru pondered, pumping her fist in the air. “What if Kagome was poisoned? There are chemicals in the chemistry lab! Is it a possibility {chemical was used} to poison Kagome? ” 

“You cannot simply just limit the possibilities to a chemical being utilized in this crime. There are [a plethora of methods] that have the ability to make one perish. Have you thought about berries? A multitude are available within the garden, and you cannot doubt that [some are poisonous], because of our circumstances.” Sora explained, waving his hands around as he elucidated upon his point of view.

“Wait, Kaoru… I think you’re right!” Mirai claimed, after pointing her finger in the air as if she had a light bulb in her mind.

Consent!

“Yeah, that’s great! But… how am I right?” Kaoru questioned, crossing her arms and tilting her head in confusion. Mirai smiled, just as she was about to speak.

“The chemicals in the Chemistry Lab were mixed up! They were supposed to be in alphabetical order, but they appeared to be tampered with. That’s a sign that chemicals could have somehow been used in the murder!” Mirai remembered, realizing the supposedly irrelevant clue was important.

“Ah, yes! I wasn’t able to investigate, but that’s an important clue! Kagome might have been poisoned with the chemicals!” Kaoru proudly exclaimed, with her shoulders back and chin held up high, obviously feeling accomplishment in helping to find the truth of a clue.

“Oh, but how, oh how, does this help? I don’t know, I just don’t know! The cause of death is not as important as clues to who done it! Think, think, Mirai! Prove who the culprit is! Prove it, prove it, prove it! Prove that somebody poisoned Kagome with some dangerous chemicals! Prove it, prove it, prove it!” Haruka gushed, staring intensely at Mirai as she swung her head around back and forth, as if trying to confuse others around her.

“Just like a bobble head… Anyways, let’s look at it this way… was there ever an opportunity to ever poison Kagome?” Ryo suggested, bringing up an excellent point in the conversation.

“Yes, there was…” Eita mumbled plainly, to the point where only Mirai could hear him say such words. “Tell them, Kagome…”

Mirai thought intensely about all the clues she discovered around the school, and which could contribute to the answer of when Kagome could have been poisoned.

Non-stop Debate Start!

“What did that freak s-say?” Osamu stuttered, pointing his finger at Eita from not being able to hear his words. “He’s [c--certainly suspicious], being so quiet about everything…”

“I said that the answer is obvious. Does that satisfy you, idiot!?” Eita hissed, violently throwing back an insult.

“Hey, no hostility here! We already [had one death], we don’t need more because of rash decisions and violent arguments! Confrontation is seriously just the worst, all of you! It’d be absolutely disastrous if any of you were harmed because of words being thrown around…” Taeko said, trying to contribute to anything, but not adding anything helpful.

“Back on topic, everyone. [Chit-chat can wait] until after the trial.” Hibiki blurted, noticing the conversation being derailed so easily. “All of you are a bit too oblivious sometimes… Anyways, what if she was poisoned in her room? She was [said to be alone] most of the day, besides Eita approaching her once for an invitation.”

“We all had dinner together. Somebody {could have put chemicals} in the meal.” Tsubaki said plainly, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. “I mean, it’s obvious.”

“Who would do that, my dear Tsubaki?! This is absolutely frightening!” Taeko said, hugging Tsubaki as tightly as she could while trying to hide herself.

“Wait, Tsubaki… Now that I think about it, you’re right!” Mirai proclaimed, holding her finger up while smiling brightly at the discovery.

Consent!

“Tsubaki, you are correct about somebody possibly poisoning one of the meals. In the kitchen, there is an odd stain, and I don’t think it’s from any drink. I think it’s from a chemical.” Mirai said, looking down and closing her eyes as she tried to remember the imagery exactly.

“Well, I mean, it was obvious to anybody who actually paid attention, and didn’t pad things out for the sake of suspense, after all!” Tsubaki said, passive aggressively, as she met eyes with everyone in the room.

“Right…” Mirai partially agreed, slightly taken aback by Tsubaki’s out-of-place words.

“W-wait, then who poisoned Kagome?!” Ritsu asked, still shaking from being a possible culprit in the murder.

“Shut it, ass! You’re still not getting away with killing Kagome!” Mirai thundered, turning her attention to Ritsu. “But there’s only one person who had access to the kitchen the night before Kagome’s death…”

Select Somebody!

“That person was… was...” Mirai didn’t want to admit it, Mirai didn’t want to accept it, Mirai didn’t want to fully comprehend the true culprit. Yet, the truth was right there, in the front of her mind. She didn’t want to say it, she couldn’t say it. She couldn’t-

“Eita… Kasuda…” Kaoru blurted, seeming intensely hurt by what she was forced to say. “Eita, you were the only one in that kitchen… you… did you?

“I… honestly don’t know anymore…” Eita confessed, raising his hands in the air as tears started to form. He slammed his palms down on the surface in front of him, and tearfully admitted everything. “I could have killed her… I think I did… but… but…”

“Eita, why…? Why did you kill her?!” Mirai screamed, tears starting to form in her eyes as well. Did she truly have to see her best friends murdered and executed, right in front of her? Why did the future have to be so cruel? She praised it, admired it, appreciated it, but now it’s haunting her life, cursing everything she does, everyone she became close to. Anger. Sadness. It all stood by her.

“Kagome and I… we made a plan…” Eita admitted, breathing heavily as he tried to force the words out of this mouth. “Since Monokuma required a murder to stop the motive from being carried out… when I met up with her, telling her that we were all going to have a meal together, I told Kagome that I was willing to sacrifice myself, to be her killer. I took chemicals from the lab, and put it in Kagome’s meal. A few hours later, it’s my fault that she… that she… met her demise. I’m such an idiot. I’m so sorry, Mirai…”

“No, you didn’t kill her… you couldn’t have killed her! I’ll prove it!” Mirai thundered, still not accepting the reality of the situation. “I know fate isn’t that cruel!”

“Mirai, Kagome told you-“ Eita responded, just before being interrupted.

“I won’t worship and place my life in only fate anymore. But… I’ve lived with it my whole life. I know it isn’t this cruel, to make you the killer! There has to be some other way!” Mirai claimed, her breathing growing heavy and sweat coming down her face. 

[BC]Non-stop Debate Start!

“Huh, there’s some other way?! But Eita just confessed to everything! So, if there’s some other way… prove it! Prove it! Prove it! Prove it! Huh, aren’t you going to prove your claims? So boring, but so exciting! A mystery!” Haruka gushed, pressing her palms against her cheeks to imitate a gasp. “So, hurry up! Prove it! Prove it! Prove it! What if {Akiko killed Kagome} or {Ryo did it}? Maybe {I killed her} after all!”

“Eita, recap everything you said.” Ryo commanded, crossing his arms and leaning forward. “There’s [more to this] than meets the eye, or so Mirai claims.”

“Alright… I made a plan with Kagome so both of us would be sacrificed, and when I cooked the meals, I put a chemical substance in Kagome’s, to poison and [kill her immediately]... After a few hours of eating the meal, [she died because of me]…” Eita confessed once again, fidgeting with his hands nervously. 

“So, Mirai, why didn’t Eita kill Kagome?” Kishiko asked, smirking as if she knew the answer.

“Eita, I don’t-“ Mirai blurted, just before she was rudely interrupted by a certain rash person.

“Wait, Eita, look at your own words!” Kaoru demanded, pointing her finger at Eita.

[BC]Break!

“What…?” Eita asked, shaking from Kaoru’s response.

“You said that the poison would kill her immediately… yet, she lived on for a few hours. Is it possible you mixed up the meals that you handed to Kagome and Mirai, and that Kagome didn’t die from your meal? Mirai didn’t eat her meal, so that’s why she wasn’t poisoned either!” Kaoru explained, pumping her fist in the air as if she knew she was right.

“So, what other opportunity was given for Kagome to be poisoned? Was she ever alone a few hours before she passed, so that somebody could approach her and poison her? What could have poisoned her?” Ryo interjected, asking questions to get as much information as possible.

Mirai thought as hard as could, and dreamed up every clue in full detail, every detail in all of the rooms, everything that looked out of place. Words stormed amongst her mind, her psyche full of differentiating letters and sentences, all battling and conflicting against one another. That was when she finally found the answer.

“Flax-leaved Daphne…” Mirai uttered, remembering the small white flowers stained with red on the ground of the garden. The clue seemed irrelevant until now, but now that she remembered it, she also remembered the passage about Flax-leaved Daphne she read a few days prior, accompanied by a detail photograph, in a book about poisons. 

“What…?” Eita emitted, in shock that he may not be the culprit after all.

“Flax-leaved Daphne… red berries that grow with small, white flowers. They cause coughing blood and headaches, and they are able to kill after a few hours… There were small white flowers at the entrance of the garden, so somebody may have eaten the berries, but didn’t have enough time to clean up the flowers from the plant. It was possible that this, which we thought was a murder the whole time, was a…” Mirai gulped, forcing herself to continue, but still not wanting to accept the truth. “...a suicide.”

“A suicide…? Kagome, no…” Kaoru gasped, feeling utterly shattered by Mirai’s words. “But you’re right… About all of those details about Flax-leaved Daphne.”

“A suicide! Boring! Utterly shameful if that is the truth! I was hoping for more murder, death, and excitement! I was hoping for tragedy and heartbreak!” Haruka gushed, looking down as she disappointed by the results of Mirai’s accusations.

“A suicide? That seems ridiculous.” Hibiki spoke, crossing his arms while sighing.

“Suicide! An utterly imperfect way to go down… I don’t believe it, you fools!” Akiko hissed, leaning forward as she slammed her fists on the podium.

“It would make sense, though…” Eita suggested, tapping his chin lightly as he thought about his plan with Kagome.

“You just want to l-live! Y-you killed her, d-didn’t you, you freak!?” Osamu grumbled, shaking violently as he was fearful of what Eita might do.

“Oho! It seems we have a disagreement between most of you! This is the perfect time to test out some new technology I built!” Monokuma gushed excitedly, raising his hands and waving them as he did so. “This area is transmogrifical! It can magically morph into something else, for special occasions like these! You’ll be split into two sides, depending on your opinion of what truly happened! Whether Eita is truly the culprit, who poisoned Kagome Ainara with chemicals, or whether Kagome committed suicide with those berries in the garden!”

“What…?” Mirai said, shocked by the sudden response of Monokuma, who had been so silent until now. 

“Just go with it…” Monokuma sighed, not wanting to explain it all again.

Scrum Debate Start!  
How was Kagome Ainara poisoned?  
Chemicals versus Berries

(C)Ryo: “Eita just confessed to making a plan with Kagome.” 

(B)Hideki: “But he just said the plan should have immediately killed Kagome!”

(C)Akiko: “He could be covering for him being found out, and lying about what happened, so he doesn’t get executed by Monokuma.”

(B)Kaoru: “I know how poisons work! Kagome would have been immediately dead after eating her food.”

(C)Kishiko: “You two are clearly best friends. You could be lying about that to cover for him.”

(B)Sora: “I am knowledgeable about chemicals as well. Kagome should have died immediately.”

(C)Osamu: “Shouldn’t she have died immediately from the berries as well?”

(B)Tsubaki: “Those berries kill after a few hours, not immediately.”

(C)Haruka: “But why would Kagome commit suicide, if she had formed a plan with Eita?”

(B)Taeko: “She wanted to save everyone! Kagome was a kind person who sacrificed herself to let us all live.”

(C)Hibiki: “It’s awfully risky to plan a suicide when there was a murder required to halt the motive… Are you sure she was that reckless?”

(B)Mirai: “She’s the type of person to take risks for the benefit of her friends…” 

(C)Ritsu: “When did she have the opportunity to eat the berries?”

(B)Eita: “When Haruka screamed, we all split up to find her. I was with Hideki, but Kagome was alone the entire time.”

(C)Kishiko: “But is there any proof that she did indeed plan for suicide, to save us all?”

(B)Mirai: “There was proof… but it was destroyed by somebody here. We know who that person is. We’ll find her out very soon!”

Break!

“Oh, there was proof that it was a suicide? Then prove it, Mirai.” Ryo demanded, tapping his foot impatiently. “You should really think before you speak, and stop trying to defend the friend who’s still alive.”

“Yes, but that proof was destroyed… It was an odd clue that didn’t fit in at all, that was placed very... awkwardly into the crime scene. But now it makes sense.” Mirai stated, tapping her chin lightly and closing her eyes as she was deep in thought.

“What proof is that? Oh, this is much too tragic for a soul like mine…” Taeko cried, rubbing her arm lightly as she tried to face her fear.

“So, Mirai? What was the proof? Who was the person that destroyed it? This is the final piece to create the truth.” Haruka stated seriously, leaning forward and intensely looking at Mirai.

“Yes… we both know the person that destroyed it, Haruka… It was the ripped piece of paper, with sloppy and unreadable handwriting.” Mirai explained, crossing her arms while looking intently at Haruka. “Tell us what it said… Haruka Miyawaki.”

“Ah, so you’ve figured out that I destroyed it. Well, I memorized it perfectly before destroying it, thanks to my great memory. I’ll recite it all.” Haruka smiled, grinning that Mirai finally had the full truth.

“So you knew the whole time…” Mirai realized, a burning hatred for Haruka placed in her mind. “Recite it. We all need to hear Kagome’s last words.”

“Alrighty, then!” Haruka agreed, smiling as she cupped her hands together, about to recite Kagome’s last written words. “Mirai, Eita, everyone… I’m sorry for doing this. This is my attempt to stop the killing game. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll come up with another plan to finally stop it, but this is the best I can do for now. And Mirai, if this doesn’t work, then just know… I loved you. I always did. Even if you don’t remember, just know that I was always by your side.” 

“Oh my god… Kagome…” Mirai cried, feeling almost numb but also shaken and shattered as Haruka recited the last words of Kagome. “Why!? Why did you have to sacrifice yourself!? You could have lived on… lived on with the rest of us!”

“Monokuma, since it was indeed a suicide, and you needed a murder to stop the motive… Will somebody still be punished tomorrow?” Hibiki asked, not affected at all by Kagome’s last words.

“Why, that’s a good question! Well… if it was a suicide, and not a murder, you’ll all still be punished eventually! Unless… you vote for somebody innocent to be executed… Puhuhu!” Monokuma laughed menacingly from the new rule that he created.

“What…? Oh my, who do we vote for?!” Taeko said, wrapping her arms around herself as sweat fell down her forehead.

“Before you all vote, I’ll tell the full story of what happened to Kagome. I don’t want to influence your choice…. but reviewing everything might make the choice easier.” 

Closing Argument!

“The morning before Kagome’s death, Monokuma announced the first motive… that if there was no murder, one person will die a day until a murder was committed.”

“Then we all proceeded with the morning meeting, where we conversed about what we were going to do against the motive. While we were arguing, accusing one another, and fighting, the culprit thought of an idea they would eventually use. The culprit volunteered to sacrifice themselves to stop the motive from being executed, but they needed somebody to kill them so they could complete the requirement of a murder.”

“While we all argued against her sacrifice, one person would make a deal with the culprit to both sacrifice themselves. The person the culprit made a plan with… was Eita Kasuda.”

“Hours later, the time for a meal came. Taeko, Tsubaki, Hideki, Eita, Kaoru, myself, and the culprit gathered together to spend time together. Eita soon finished cooking the meals after some conversation between the group, and took some chemicals he stole from the chemistry lab, to poison the culprit’s meal… however, when he gave the meal to the culprit, he switched the meals between me and the culprit and since I didn’t eat my meal, I fortunately did not get poisoned…”

“Afterwards, due to their plan not working, the culprit took the next available opportunity to make sure that nobody besides them would be sacrificed to due Monokuna’s motive. They traveled to the garden, ate the poisonous berries called Flax-Leaved Daphne, and since they didn’t have enough time to clean up their mess, the culprit left behind a group of small, white flowers from the plant.”

“After a few hours of spending time with me, the culprit suddenly started to cough blood. Knowing they had a limited time left, they traveled to the library to write a suicide note. However, little did they know that somebody was traveling the halls, looking for an innocent to kill, with a knife in hand. Thanks to Haruka and Kishiko, who kept watch, the attacker did not get away with their crime. That attacker… was Ritsu Shimizu. He relentlessly attacked the culprit, but the culprit fortunately got away… but their death was soon anyways.”

“Haruka messed with the crime scene, tampered with the note, placed a knife at the crime scene, and placed her hair at the crime scene. The purpose of this was to set us off track.”

“After the culprit came back to their room from being attacked, they tried to tell me something… but were never able to, as they died in my arms.”

“That is the truth of this case. The reality I haven’t been able to accept for so long…”

”The culprit was Kagome Ainara, The Ultimate Horror Novelist, who committed suicide to save us all.”

“Ah, a recap of everything you think that occurred! Now, it is voting time!” Monokuma shouted in his gleeful, cheerful voice, while raising an arm in the air.

Voting Time  
Who do you vote for?

Mirai couldn’t vote anybody else but herself. It was her fault for not looking at the signs, for listening to fate so much. It was her fault that Kagome suffered. She eventually made up with Kagome, hours before she died, but she couldn’t hold back tears. Kagome admitted that she loved Mirai. Mirai didn’t know what she couldn’t remember about their relationship, but she was going to find out, no matter what it took.

Mirai Higurashi voted for herself!

“One vote for Mirai Higurashi, Seven votes for Eita Kasuda, seven votes for Ritsu Shimizu! I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Ritsu Shimizu, The Ultimate Harpist, and Eita Kasuda, the Ultimate Bike Courier” Monokuma enthused, not holding back his unbearable, laugh as he said it, rewinding everyone his cruel the game really was.

Chains came out of the wall, and lunged towards Ritsu’s and Eita’s next. The two chains clasped onto their necks, and a large door opened up, and they were pulled into the large opening. On a large screen in the trial room, a video started to play, and Ritsu and Eita were in small containment-like areas made of glass, and both were desperately trying to escape, trying to scrape at the glass, to no avail. Above the two, was a timer for five minutes.

“Now, this is a very special execution! Since the votes were tied, there will be a competition between the two for who will survive! They both have specialized executions, and whoever survives their execution the longest gets to live!” Monokuma yelled, waving his hands in the air excitedly, pointing to the large screen.

Mirai couldn’t hold back her tears. She hated Eita so much for attempting to poison Kagome, yet she also longed to be with him, to give him a second chance. She didn’t care if Ritsu died, because in her eyes, he deserved it, but Eita was her friend. Eita was important to her. Eita deserved a second chance, because his attempt to kill Kagome was an attempt to save everyone, and also a sacrifice. She couldn’t lose him too, after losing Kagome. This wasn’t fate. This was hell.

“Three… two… one…” Monokuma said, counting down as slowly as possible, just to increase suspense. “GO!”

In both of their tubes, large harps appeared in front of them. The wires were horrendous. Sharp. Mirai’s eyes widened. What… what was that harp? She tried to run towards the screen, tried to destroy it because maybe it’ll end that way. Some people held her back. It was dangerous. They couldn’t do anything.

“This lovely execution is called the Deadly Melody, a Final Concert! Today we have two adorable competitors! They will each repeat the melody I play to them on their respective harps! The winner will get the prize of leaving their cage, and the loser will die a horrific death! Upupupu! Isn’t it exciting?” Monokuma gushed, as he laughed threateningly.

It wasn’t fair. A harpist against a bike courier. It was so unbelievably unfair. Mirai could barely move an inch. She knew who was going to lose, in a cruel and unjust work of fate. It was so wrong. It was probably what the bear wanted.

The first melody began. It was slow and cute, like a slowed-down music box’s melody. Ritsu closed his eyes, seemingly more calm with music around him. Eita desperately tried to pick out the sounds. Miraculously, they both played the first melody accurately. Mirai still felt a pit in her stomach.

“Upupupu! Time for the second round!” The disgustingly upbeat voice shouted, hands in the air.

The second melody began. It was quicker and longer, still doable, but terrifying. Ritsu played correctly, with blood dripping down his hand. He winced at the length. Eita did not play correctly. Water began to crawl up towards him until below his knees were all submerged in water. A drop of blood corrupted the water. The water. Mirai realized what was going on. Monokuma was making Eita suffer the same fate of his mother. Trying to drown him.

Monokuma ran towards Eita’s tube, now in a suit. “And the biker begins to sink! What an unbearable fate, wouldn’t you think?” 

The third melody began. It was incredibly long. It was complicated. Eita trembled the more it went on. Ritsu tried to stay focused, although his breathing became more labored each note that went by. Ritsu started playing first, somehow remembering most of the beginning — until he got a note wrong. A knife came flying towards him, hitting his torso. The same way he had attacked. He screamed, holding onto the harp as he struggled to hold onto his instrument and play the melody correctly. He got another note wrong. His leg suffered the consequences. Next was Eita, who lost track of the melody early on and ended up with water around his torso.

“How exciting! The harpist messes up and the courier feels water inching closer to his face! Who could win the contest of the deadly melody?!” Monokuma shouted as usual. 

Mirai screamed. “Stop! Leave Eita alone! He’s going to drown! Stop!” Her pleas were unanswered.

Another melody began. It was needlessly complicated and painfully slow. They wanted the player to die a slower death than was needed. Eita tried to swim away from the water already in his tube. Once the melody ended, they both hesitated. Neither of them wanted to begin. But they both did.

Eita messed up immediately, and painfully, the water grew and grew and it grew until there was barely enough air to breathe. He tried to swim, but his head hit the top of the tube. Ritsu on the other hand was focused, more so than it seemed he had ever been before, while he clutched his wounds. He winced when the harp made him bleed, and didn’t look to Eita’s side. He knew he was winning, he could hear it.

The water began to suffocate Eita. He scrambled, trying to break the tube with his legs, to hold his breath, to do anything. Nothing worked. The death was accompanied with the mocking sound of the melody of the harp. And just as Eita gave up on his life and took his last breath, Ritsu messed up the last note of the song. Ritsu’s hand was sliced open.

Eita Kasuda, the Ultimate Bike Courier, was dead. Ritsu Shimizu survived the execution.

Mirai gasped, tears falling from her eyes. She fell to the floor. Eita was dead. Kagome was dead. The two people she cared for most. Fate completely abandoned her. 

That was when a small compartment in Ritsu’s cage was opened, allowing him to exit. He barely could stand from the pain in his leg, his now cut-off hand, and his torso. He fell out of the cage, and screamed, then slowly crawled back to the trial room, bleeding heavily. He barely had any life left in him. Taeko ran towards him and started to grab his arms and carry his body.

“It’ll be okay! Even if you attacked Kagome, you didn’t kill her… so you can’t die yet. I have bandages in my room… I can heal you for now, you poor soul!” Taeko shouted, trying to carry him the best she could. “Turquoise, help me!”

“Right, my dear Taeko!” Tsubaki happily agreed, running towards Ritsu, and helping Taeko grab his body. After some tumbling, most people helped in taking Ritsu to Taeko’s room.

And with everything resolved, Mirai felt numb. Sadness, anger, it all faded away and all that was left was emptiness. She had lost two people. Mirai was about to leave, when-

“Mirai.” A voice shouted at her. A voice Mirai hated. The voice of Haruka Miyawaki. 

“Haruka Miyawaki.” Mirai didn’t even want to call her so familiarly, as Haruka. She would do the same to Ritsu Shimizu as well.

“Take this journal. It’s Kagome’s. I thought you would want it.” Haruka said oddly seriously, handing Mirai a small journal. Mirai hesitated but eventually took it. “You should read it. It… it seems important if you read it.

“I’m sorry for doing that, Mirai. For messing with the murder, and confusing you all. Kishiko told me to, and I don’t want to disappoint her.” Haruka shouted as she followed everyone who had left. Mirai felt incredibly shocked by her behavior. Was the journal a prank? But yet… Mirai opened it.

She sat down on the floor and she read.

And suddenly, through pages of writing, and writing, she realized something. Mirai Higurashi hadn’t met Kagome Ainara here. They were inseparable since childhood. She felt like she was worthless, but Mirai thought she was worth the world and so much more. She remembered the day that her best friend’s parents told her that her best friend committed suicide. It must’ve been a lie. Her best friend had always told her she wanted to run away. She did run away. 

Somehow, Kagome’s name and appearance had been erased from her mind. The memories with Kagome were altered. Why? Who altered them? It didn’t matter at that moment, but she swore she would avenge Kagome, and whoever had erased her memories of Kagome.

She read Kagome’s last lines. The last thing the writer had ever written. She’d treasure it forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is the end of the chapter! I’d like to ask for feedback! If you don’t know what to say, here’s some stuff it’d be nice if you could answer!  
> Your favorite character? How you think the story will go? Any survivor predictions or death predictions? Any constructive criticism? We’d love an answer.  
> Thank you for reading.


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